?You?re with us or against us,? FTC Commissioner Tells ARM Industry

OK, so maybe the exact statement wasn’t quite so G.W. Bush-y. But Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill had a pointed message for the debt collection and debt purchasing industry when it comes to filing lawsuits against consumers: “You can listen to me and listen to the Commission…or not."

Brill was responding to a pointed audience comment after her presentation at ACA International’s Annual Convention on FTC recommendations to address the debt collection litigation and arbitration systems in the U.S. She had just announced a newly-released report from the FTC on the matter (“FTC Commissioner Presents Debt Collection Report to ARM Industry,” July 13).

After the presentation, ACA opened the floor for questions and comments. The first person to speak was an unidentified woman who caustically asked why the ARM industry must continuously take the brunt of regulatory scorn when the real issue is consumers who refuse to pay bills they know they owe. The comment was met with enthusiastic applause.

And that’s when Brill made her comment. She stood her ground, noting that the primary purpose of the FTC is to protect consumers. It was the “…or not” that sounded ominous. It was delivered in a manner that conveyed a restrained but arresting warning akin to the way characters often speak in Spaghetti Westerns. Earlier in the presentation, she explicitly warned the ARM industry to “tread carefully.”

But not all of the comments from the crowd were inflammatory. Most lauded the Commissioner for presenting the report to the ARM industry’s face, so to speak, rather than hiding behind a press release.

insideARM.com caught up with one of the lecture’s attendees after Commissioner Brill’s speech:

The entire scene was fascinating to watch unfold. Here was a high-ranking official of an industry’s regulatory body presenting new rules of the road in an unapologetic way. The knee-jerk reaction of some in attendance was strong, but most seemed to know that change is coming, and appeared to appreciate a preview of what that change will look like.

Brill did drop one bomb, in my opinion: she would basically like to prohibit out-of-statute collection activities altogether. This recommendation is not in the FTC report, but it is nonetheless the opinion of a powerful government official.

For a more detailed blow-by-blow of Brill’s speech and the Q&A session that followed, go now to the Twitter feed of Michael Klozotsky, insideARM.com’s Managing Editor. He was there with me and realized early in the presentation that this stuff was too good to let pass without covering in real time.