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FTC Asks Portfolio Recovery Assoc., Sallie Mae’s Arrow Financial, 7 Other Debt Buyers for Info on Practices - CBL
By Citybizlist Staff
NORFOLK/RESTON, Va. -- The Federal Trade Commission has asked Asta Funding Inc. (Nasdaq: ASFI), Sallie Mae's Arrow Financial Services LLC, Portfolio Recovery Associates (Nasdaq: PRAA), NCO Portfolio Management Inc. and five other debt buyers to submit details of their operations in order to gain better understanding of the industry's debt collection practices.
Asta Funding, in an 8-K filing, said it had received the FTC order to file a special report on its debt-collection and debt-buying practices. Portfolio Recovery confirmed receiving the order to an industry news Web site, insideARM. The nine companies are to submit their reports by Feb. 25.
The FTC, which issued the order following consumer complaints about collection practices, expects to use the information to better understand the debt-buying industry and determine if the practices adequately protect consumers.
An FTC spokesman told insideARM the nine companies had been "selected because they are large, not because the agency has determined that the companies violated the law." Collectively, the companies reportedly represent about 75 percent of the debt purchased in the United States, the report said.
Asta Funding, based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is a consumer receivable asset management company.
NCO Portfolio Management, based in Horsham, Pa., buys delinquent debt from banks, finance companies and retailers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Its stock was traded on the Nasdaq exchange until 2006 when it was taken private.
Portfolio Recovery, of Norfolk, Va., has a debt portfolio of more than $35 billion.
Arrow Financial Services LLC, based in Niles, Ill., is part of the Reston, Va.-based Sallie Mae (NYSE: SLM) family of companies with more than $16 billion in consumer debt under management.
The other five companies that received the FTC order are: B-Line LLC, of Seattle; eCast Settlement Corp., of New York; Encore Capital Group Inc., of San Diego; and Sherman Financial Group LLC and Unifund Corp., both of Cincinnati.
Form 8-K filing: http://tinyurl.com/ybhkk54
Also at Citybizlist, see:
Asta Funding Reaches Agreements With Its Lenders and Announces Cost Reduction Program
Stern Family Establishes $8.2 Million Subordinated Loan to Asta Funding
Sallie Mae Announces Executive Promotions
Portfolio Recovery Associates Exiting Third-Party Collections Business
Posted Jan 18, 2010
