Graduation: ARM-U 2015 Highlights Need for Regulatory Clarity

This is an industry hungry for insight into operations and compliance. Regulatory goalposts shift, disappear, or re-appear without warning. Information that seemed clear one day can turn muddled and confusing as soon as you try to explain it to your collectors or upper management. It has never been more apparent, the great need for educational programs that level the playing field for all involved.

On Wednesday, insideARM launched its 2015 ARM-U program: two days, six webinars, that focuses specifically on compliance and operations questions the ARM industry struggles with continually. We were able to offer this program entirely free, and online, thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, BillingTree and LexisNexis.

Turnout was amazing: over 600 industry professionals — from first- and third-party collectors, to creditors, to collection attorneys, to debt buyers — making time in their day to listen to presentations from a variety of experts: John Bedard on the challenges and safe harbors of Regulation E; Terri Haley and Tim Bauer of the iA Institute on the best practices in vendor oversigh/management; and Ballard Spahr, giving some much needed clarity and a detailed walk-through of what a CFPB investigation will entail.

As a moderator for all the sessions, I was struck by the thoughtful quality of the questions. The common (and often unfair) picture of this industry is: anything to collect. But what I was seeing and hearing in all of these sessions was an eagerness and drive to get things right. And a wish for regulatory clarity.

That was also telling: while some questions had definite answers from panelists (a full series of reports is planned, pulled from each of the six presentations), many of the questions highlighted confusion within many of the laws and regulations themselves. While the FTC requires one thing, the CFPB may require something entirely different — and often contradictory. And because there is little cohesion among state laws, compliance suffers across the board.

Still, even recognizing the areas of confusion can help an agency in their compliance plan. Better still, though, would be some kind of definitive answer.

As insideARM prepares the next semester of ARM-U, we’d love the chance to hear from you about topics you’d be most interested in seeing, presented in a comprehensive way. Join me in the comments below, or send an email: editor@insideARM.com.