On May 1, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) published a notice of public hearing and a proposed rule to amend the penalty schedule for debt collectors. The proposed amendments would update the penalty schedule to incorporate changes from the city’s expanded debt collection rules adopted in February, set to take effect on September 1 (previously covered by InfoBytes here). The public hearing is scheduled for June 1, with comments accepted through the same date.

The proposed penalty schedule covers violations across the debt collection rules, including failures to comply with requirements for acquiring location information, communicating in connection with debt collection, validation notice and verification of debts, time-barred debts, medical debt, record retention, and public websites, as well as engaging in harassment or abuse and making false, deceptive, or misleading representations. Under the proposal, first violations would generally carry penalties of $525 per violation, escalating to $1,050 for second violations and up to $3,500 for subsequent violations. The penalty schedule would also remove certain provisions, including a prior penalty category for failure to provide specified statute of limitations disclosures, which has been replaced by the updated time-barred debt requirements.