Debt Buyers to Retain Full ACA Membership

ACA International’s Board of Directors Wednesday denied a proposal from a state chapter that would have disbanded the group’s debt buyers unit and returned its focus to third party contingency debt collection agencies.

ACA’s Board denied the proposal in its annual meeting at the 72nd Annual Convention and Exposition in Dallas, according to a press release from the group. The vote has not been independently verified. ACA International is the largest membership organization for accounts receivable management professionals.

A proposal made public in May sponsored by the New England Collectors Association (NECA), a state unit of ACA, included two major strategic changes within ACA:

1. Rebranding ACA as an association dedicated, almost exclusively, to third party debt collectors. This would mean dissolving ACA’s Asset Buyers Division (ABD) and reclassifying current ABD members as “creditors.” NECA also proposes to overtly rebrand ACA as “The Association of Collection Agencies.”
2. The new ACA would support, and in some cases propose, separate legislation and regulations for debt buyers on the federal and state level. The shift would not only separate collection agencies from debt buyers, but also debt buyers from original creditors, effectively creating three distinctly regulated groups: collection agencies, original creditors, and “new creditors,” or debt buyers.

While the proposal found some support among ACA members, the association’s leadership did not think it was the right direction for the group.

The ACA Board of Directors Wednesday also approved the nominations of new national officers including Tim Mabry, treasurer; Leslie Bender, vice president; and Tom Stockton, president-elect. The Board confirmed the nomination of Mark Neeb for president.

Several amendments to the association’s standard operating procedures, including one that clarified that Members’ Attorney Program (MAP) members are prohibited from initiating, threatening or maintaining any action on behalf of a consumer against a debt collector, asset buyer or creditor.