ACA Submits New Comments in Response to Proposed Rule by New Mexico AG Regarding Collection of Time-Barred Debt

In late 2008, the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office introduced a proposal that would make it an unfair or deceptive trade practice to collect or attempt to collect a debt the debt collector knows or has reason to know is time-barred in any demand for payment to the consumer unless the demand informs the reader that while the debt is valid, the applicable statute of limitations has run and the debt cannot be enforced in a court of law.

ACA International submitted comments expressing its opposition and concerns with the proposal. After reviewing ACA’s comments as well as comments submitted by the New Mexico Collectors Association and the National Consumer Law Center, the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office released a revised proposal concerning collection of time-barred debt and requested a response by June 1, 2009.

ACA provided supplemental comments to the revised proposed rules on June 1, 2009, to the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. The original and supplemental comments are on ACA’s Web site, where members can view past comments filed by ACA in regards to state and local legislative and regulatory proposals.