Put halt to abuses of debt collectors

Florida's leading contenders for governor finally offered fixes for policing debt collectors earlier this month after a newspaper detailed how the state rarely punishes the bad actors — even as the lousy economy has prompted more complaints. The competing proposals by Attorney General Bill McCollum and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink came after useless finger-pointing between the two gubernatorial candidates. But Floridians won't be served unless they work together with the Legislature to find better ways to protect consumers from bad debt collectors.

Recent reports in the Orlando Sentinel detailed an explosion in complaints to state agencies in the last 18 months about collection agents who, in violation of state law, use obscenities and racial epithets and threaten everything from jail to physical harm. Some even call children of the elderly who have debts and make similar threats.

The Attorney General's Office already has received 4,400 such complaints this year. The Office of Financial Regulation — which McCollum and Sink oversee along with the governor and agriculture commissioner — has collected 780. But victims needn't have bothered. No one in state government has done a thing to investigate their complaints, the Sentinel reported.

The reason appears to be a disjointed and confusing regulatory structure that places almost no priority on policing debt collectors. The Office of Financial Regulation can penalize licensed, in-state collectors, but apparently only after five formal complaints. The attorney general can use his authority under the Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act to punish errant debt collectors, but has made a priority of pursuing those whose misdeeds happen across several jurisdictions. Regardless, McCollum hasn't opened any new investigations recently and Sink has not championed the cause.

Since the Sentinel's reports, both Sink and McCollum have vowed to push the Legislature to strengthen and streamline regulation. But they differ on which agency should win the role of enforcer. McCollum predictably proposes the Attorney General's Office; Sink predictably proposes the Office of Financial Regulation, which she and McCollum oversee with the governor and agriculture commissioner. There are arguments to be made for and against both arrangements. But the Legislature should keep the focus on the broader goal of cracking down on rogue collectors quickly and efficiently.