Debt collection industry group welcomes reform efforts

In a recent letter to the Baltimore Sun, one of the leading debt collection groups made headlines by saying that it welcomed efforts to reform the industry in a constructive way. The Mid-Atlantic Debt Collectors Association, an affiliate of the Association of Credit and Collection professionals, said that it was in favor of many regulations that had been proposed by industry regulators. One of the proposals included a verification process to ensure the right person in debt was targeted. "We've outlined in our Blueprint to Modernize Debt Collection and in meetings with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau the important need to require creditors to maintain accurate consumer account information and to require that debt collectors and debt purchasers have access to the account information to ensure proper information to address consumers' claims and provide verification of debts when necessary," the group said in the newspaper. According to its website, the ACA was founded in 1939 to help people in the debt collection sector find ways to conduct business better. It claims to have a current membership of 5,000 people,