ACA Compels National Membership for State Unit Participation

ACA International voted Monday to require members of its state units to also be members of the national organization.

The vote – conducted by voice by ACA’s board of Directors and attending membership at its annual meeting in Washington D.C. – stemmed from a move by the California Association of Collectors in April to allow its members to choose whether they want to be ACA members ("California Collectors Amend Bylaws to Allow Choice of ACA Membership," April 23).

Mark Schiffman, communications director for ACA, told insideARM.com that the vote was not an amendment to ACA’s bylaws but rather a clarification. ACA has said that its bylaws require state unit members to be ACA members. State units not in compliance risk losing their state unit status.

“Nothing changes,” Schiffman said. “If you are a member of ACA you have to be a member of the state unit and vice versa. That’s what our policy has been and will continue to be.”

CAC, however, had interpreted ACA bylaws to allow CAC members to choose to be ACA members. If left unaddressed, ACA ran the risk of other state units following CAC’s lead, which could have impacted ACA’s operating revenues and ability to lobby federal lawmakers on behalf of the accounts receivable management industry.

ACA bylaws now state that “Members shall be organized into Units, Divisions and Special Membership Categories as provided for in the Standard Operating Procedures of this Association. If a Unit exists in a geographic territory, membership in the Unit and in this Association shall be contingent one upon the other.”

ACA has given CAC, and any other state units not in compliance with its bylaws, a year to do so. Schiffman said a year would be ample time for any unit to amend their membership bylaws if necessary.

“If their bylaws are different than what our bylaws are, those bylaws have to be amendment within a year. By the next convention,” Schiffman said.

CAC is ACA’s oldest and largest state unit with about 350 members. However, its membership has been hard hit by mergers and closures causing membership to decline about 12.5 percent in one year.

CAC President Brian Davis of Coast Professional Inc. and CAC Executive Director Jan Stieger could not be reached for comment. But last spring, Davis told insideARM.com that economic pressures played a major role in CAC members voting to give members a choice to opt out of ACA membership.

Jerry Greenblatt, president of Inland Capital Services and CAC’s president- elect, said it’s too soon to tell how CAC members will respond to ACA’s bylaw clarification on membership.

“Our amendment to CAC bylaws was a member-driven initiative. I’m assuming it will take another member-driven initiative to amend the bylaw, (again),” Greenblatt said. “There’s been no official decision.”

Still Greenblatt said he is disappointed by ACA’s decision to require state unit members to join ACA.

“It’s disappointing that they are forcing membership rather than providing products and services that make people want to belong. My personal opinion is that this is no different than their failed SRO (self regulatory organization) and debt collector registry where they tried to force membership.”