Legislation Pending to Legalize For-Profit Debt Settlement in New York State

Legislation is pending in the New York State Senate to legalize and regulate for-profit debt settlement companies. S.5215 was introduced by Senator Griffo on May 3. There is not currently a companion bill in the Assembly. The bill would have debt settlement companies regulated by the Banking Superintendent, as well as authorizing attorneys to do this work. Restrictions on the more abusive practices of the industry seem to track the Federal Trade Commission rules which I blogged about Oct. 27, 2010 (Legislation & Rules Updates). I will attempt to write a more detailed analysis of the pending legislation in the near future.