THE NEW PHONE BOOKS ARE HERE! THE NEW PHONE BOOKS ARE HERE!

I honestly didn't know if the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs would get their...stuff together in time to meet the 1 October deadline for having their glossary up on their site.

And then they surprised us!

You'll find the glossary here: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dca/consumers/Glossary-of-Common-Debt-Collection-Terms.page

Some quick tips/reminders:

1) The regulation (found here) doesn't say to provide the link of the glossary. Per the reg, your New York City letters only need to do the following:

(viii) a statement that a translation and description of commonly-used debt collection terms is available in multiple languages on the Department’s website, www.nyc.gov/dca.

However, it is not immediately apparent, at least to this least sophisticated consumer, where the glossary is from the link above. I don't entirely know how to guide you here. Safety says: follow the regulation as written, because sometimes links change and if you use the glossary link itself, rather than the www.nyc.gov/dca link in the regulation, and then NYC DCA changes that link, you might find yourself in dutch with the City.

2) Per the regulation, you are not required to provide communications in anything other than English. If you do offer written and oral communications in other languages, though, that needs to be listed in the letter. And if you have the ability to translate written documents or handle other languages in a phone call, that needs to be made explicit to consumers, too.

3) Also per the regulation, that link to www.nyc.gov/dca also needs to be on your website. It can be on a consumer-reachable disclosures page. You will also have to list the languages your agency supports on your site, too.

4) Finally, as an eagle-eyed reader and friend of the show just emailed me, NYC DCA got the definition of "charge-off" wrong. Gey gezunt, gang!

This is a requirement for agencies doing any business in New York City. If you're not doing business in New York City, then you're off the hook.

For now.

If you have additional questions, or corrections, or just want to send an "attaboy!" -- my email is mbevel@insidearm.com

New Rules Workgroups Forming at Research Assistant

For those Research Assistant members who aren't already aware, we'll be starting weekly New Rules Work Groups on Monday, 5 October 2020, at 4.00pm Eastern.

If you're not a Research Assistant member, but want to join your peers in the industry in working through and understanding all the practical (and impractical) changes you'll need to make, now's a great time to sign up. It's only $50/month -- and you get more than just access to the work group: you get peer calls, compliance and operations questions answered, and full free access to our extensive library of documents.

Sign up now!