FTC Adopts Procedures for Administrative Collection of Debts Owed to the FTC

The Federal Trade Commission has approved amending language in its Rules of Practice that applies to the collection of outstanding debts owed under FTC orders and judgments.

The final rule amendments to Part 1 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice formally adopt government-wide Federal Claims Collection Standards and other applicable procedures for collecting delinquent debts by certain authorized administrative methods. The amendments address the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s collection of debts owed to the FTC through deduction of funds from certain federal payments and federal tax refunds.

The Commission vote to issue the Federal Register Notice setting forth these amendments to its Rules of Practice was 4-0; (FTC File No P072104). The staff contact is Stephen Dowdell, Enforcement Division, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 202-326-2814.

insideARM Perspective

While this particular notice relates primarily to administrative offsets, wouldn’t it be ironic if the FTC used third party debt collectors to collect debts owed the Commission, and learned of the many obstacles to collections created by its own rulings? One could only hope.