ACA International

The American Collectors Association is the largest trade group representing collection agencies, creditors, debt buyers, collection attorneys and debt collection industry service providers. The organization was founded in 1939 and changed its name to ACA International in 2001. ACA International is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

ACA's 3,500 collection agency members in the U.S. and 55 countries abroad collect delinquent debts on behalf of their clients from both consumers and businesses. Other ACA membership divisions include creditors' internal collection staff, or "first-party collectors", and attorneys who represent ACA member companies in litigation or collect debt using the remedies of the legal system. The organization has a total of about 5,500 member firms and organizations.

Industry overview

The collection industry has grown rapidly since the 1980s as data processing and telecommunications technology has contributed to gains in worker productivity. The democratization of credit, heavier consumer borrowing, the rise of debt buying and the outsourcing of back office functions by creditors are trends that contributed to 500% growth in industry revenues in the past 20 years, according to industry analysts. [ [http://www.kaulkin.com/advisory/ppt/State_of_the_Industry_Sept-06.pdf] Kaulkin Ginsberg, "State of the Industry," Sept. 6, 2006.] Modern collection agencies may provide diverse services to their clients, including billing, customer service, insurance verification, training, data clearinghouse services and debt purchasing.fact|date=July 2008

An estimated 4,100 U.S. collection companies employed 150,000 people to pursue USD$180 billion in bad debt charged off by creditors in 2005. The industry successfully recovered $51 billion that year, returning $39.3 billion to creditors and retaining $12.1 billion as income, according to an economic impact study by ACA International and PricewaterhouseCoopers. [ [http://www.acainternational.org/images/8652/finaleconomicimpactstudy.pdf] "Value of Third-Party Debt Collection to the U.S. Economy: Survey and Analysis." PricewaterhouseCoopers, June 27, 2006.]

As the trade association representing these businesses, ACA International lobbies for public policy favorable to its members, provides training and credentialing resources, establishes ethical standards and promotes the value of the industry to businesses, policy makers and consumers.

ACA Code of Ethics

ACA enforces a code of ethics by which its members must abide as a condition of membership. The code is intended to establish standards of conduct for the industry.

The ACA code of ethics requires members to treat consumers with dignity and respect, to appoint an officer with sufficient authority to handle consumer complaints, and to resolve disputes brought to the company through ACA's ethics program. [ [http://www.acainternational.org/ethics ACA International – Ethics] ] [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/nyregion/05credit.html The New York Times, July 5, 2006, by Sewell Chan, "An Outcry Rises as Debt Collectors Play Rough"] ] [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/13/nyregion/13debt.html The New York Times, June 13, 2006, by Sewell Chan, Debt Collection Agencies Under Scrutiny at Hearing] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.acainternational.org ACA International Web site]
* [http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf Fair Debt Collection Practices Act - United States Federal Trade Commission]