Multi-State Investigation Into Debt Collection Reportedly Underway

The Attorney General of the state of Iowa is leading a multi-state investigation into the debt collection practices associated with credit card accounts. AG Tom Miller will be focusing on the paperwork provided by banks to debt buyers, among other things, according to a spokesman.

“What we are hearing, in many cases, is the paperwork that the banks provided the debt buyers may be incomplete, or the paperwork that the debt buyers may have presented to court to collect on that debt, is incomplete and the result is we have spotty paperwork and it is not accurate,” Geoff Greenwood, spokesman for Tom Miller, told Des Moines TV station ABC5.

Although there has not been an official announcement provided by Miller’s office, the story was also reported on the Radio Iowa network.

Greenwood indicated that Miller’s office will be looking at “robo-signing” issues similar to those in the mortgage industry and in previous cases against debt buyers.

The investigation could be the same one revealed in a Reuters report in March. That report noted that the focus of the probe was bank activity at the beginning of the debt collection process.

Data provided by banks and used by ARM companies is also the focus of an all-day workshop in Washington, DC being co-hosted this week by the FTC and CFPB.

Tom Miller was the lead AG in a 2012 multi-state investigation into mortgage foreclosure practices that resulted in a $25 billion settlement between state and federal regulators and several national mortgage lenders. Miller was also a participant in the 19-state AG action against NCO Group that resulted in a settlement.