Eric Berman

Lawyers…pfft, right? But it turns out that lawyers are pretty good at understanding laws. So when collection attorney Eric Berman contacted us about a recently-passed law in New York City and noted the impact it could have on other collection laws in the U.S., we checked into it. And what we found is enough to raise the collective ARM industry threat level to something resembling burnt sienna.

The Big Apple Law, slated to take effect in July, would require debt buyers and collection attorneys to register as debt collectors to go after debtors in the city. Accounts receivable management firms operating in the city would be placed under the regulatory control of the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA).

Berman noted that ARM companies operating in New York will now be answerable to the FDCPA and the civil liability it carries and the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs for the same violation, which basically amounts to double jeopardy (“NYC Collection Law Could Signal Problems for the ARM Industry,” April 17). The DCA can also levy fines that far exceed those stipulated in the FDCPA.

As the president of the Commercial Lawyers Conference of New York and a director of the National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys, Berman is in a position to raise awareness of the rule. He said that while it will greatly impact those with accounts in NYC, his real fear is that other legislatures, specifically states’, will use the law as a model for future ARM regulation.

Berman has formed a group, the Coalition for Fair Debt Collection Practices, that intends to file a suit to block implementation of the law.