On August 4, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection issued FAQs on its debt collection rule, which was published as final amendments on February 26. The FAQs also noted that the DCWP published a notice delaying the rule’s effective date to January 1, 2027, and said the agency will propose an amendment solely to align the rule text with the new effective date. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the rule expands compliance obligations for debt collectors, including third-party collectors, debt buyers, and original creditors when they are engaged in debt collection procedures.

The FAQs state that the rule’s communications limits apply to debt collection communications with NYC consumers regardless of when debt collection procedures began or when the account was purchased or charged off, and generally limit communications to three per distinct consumer account within a seven-day period across all media, with mailed letters and certain other communications excluded. The FAQs also clarify that certain validation and verification requirements apply only to accounts for which a validation notice must be sent on or after January 1, 2027, and that certain verification requirements do not apply to accounts purchased before that date. Among other things, the FAQs also address attorney communications in litigation, medical debt disclosures that must appear in all validation notices, and a requirement that debt collectors generally wait 14 days after sending a consumer notice before furnishing collection information to consumer reporting agencies.