FTC to Host Debt Collection Litigation and Arbitration Roundtable

The Federal Trade Commission and the Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth at Northwestern University School of Law will host a two-day public event, “Protecting Consumers in Debt Collection Litigation and Arbitration: A Roundtable Discussion,” in Chicago, Illinois, on August 5 and 6, 2009.

This event follows the Commission’s 2009 Report, Collecting Consumer Debts: The Challenges of Change – A Workshop Report, which was issued in February and recommended that the debt collection regulatory system in the United States should be reformed and modernized. The Report also announced that the FTC would hold roundtables to help develop policy recommendations related to debt collection litigation and arbitration. The Chicago event will be the first of these roundtable discussions for state court judges, government officials, debt collectors and their representatives, consumer advocates, and academics. An agenda and more details about the roundtable will be posted on the FTC’s Web site in the near future.