As if collecting outstanding debts isn’t difficult enough already, it is about to get even more difficult in the state of New York. Starting this year, there will be three new regulations that will address different aspects of debt collection in New York. Consumers will be able to insist that collectors contact them only by email, and collectors will also now be required to prove that a debt is legitimate and inform consumers if the statute of limitations on a debt may be running out.
Let’s take a closer look at how each of these new regulations might impact your next collection:
Switching to Email
New York residents are now going to be able to insist that debt collectors stop calling them on the phone and instead communicate exclusively by email. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that this is going to make debt collectors much easier for debtors to avoid.
Even if the debtor isn’t ducking your collection intentionally, it is going to be very easy for your email to get lost in the shuffle of the thousands of other emails that a given consumer might get over the course of a day. Because email is less pressing than a phone call, it will also be easier for a consumer to put off getting back to you pretty much indefinitely.
Proving the Debt is Accurate
Debt collectors are also going to be required to prove that a debt is legitimate whether a consumer asks them to or not. Responsible debt collectors will already have this information on hand, but the concern is that this will create yet another loophole that might allow a serial debtor to get out of paying what they owe.
Just as they do now, consumers are simply going to deny that a debt is legitimate, whether it really is or not. This new regulation will just cause them to play that card a little earlier in the process.
Statute of Limitations
Another aspect of the new regulations concerning debt collection in New York is that collectors will have to inform consumers if they believe that the statute of limitations on a particular debt is either close to running out or has already expired.
Once again, this will do a great job of fighting against unethical debt collectors attempting to collect zombie debts. However, it is also yet another hurdle that legitimate debt collectors will have to fight through in order to get paid for debts they are owed. Being forced to tell a debtor that they may be about to get off the hook through a statute of limitations issue is not likely to help any debt collector actually get paid.
While these new regulations make perfect sense for protecting consumers from unethical or illegal debt collection practices, they also make the process of collecting legitimate debts much more difficult. Debt collection is already frustrating enough, and it is about to get even more frustrating. Perhaps now would be a good time to talk with a commercial debt collection agency about handling your collection issues for you.
