ACA International 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 as the American Collectors Association and changed its name to ACA International in 2001. ACA International is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
ACA's 3,200 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.
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The collection industry has grown rapidly since the 1980s as data processing and telecommunications technology has contributed to gains in worker productivity and the world economy has fallen into general disrepair. 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.[1] Modern collection agencies may provide diverse services to their clients, including billing, customer service, insurance verification, training, data clearinghouse services and debt purchasing.
An estimated 4,100 U.S. collection companies employed 150,000 people to pursue US$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.[2]
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.
From the consumer point of view ACA International represents the basest interests of the debt collection industry. The complaint process is before a panel whose members are kept secret. ACA does not even reveal the members of its board of directors.
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 authority to handle some consumer complaints, and to resolve disputes brought to the company through ACA's ethics program.[3][4][5]
ACA International has an Ethics Committee that rules on complaints made by consumers against debt collectors. Membership of the Ethics Committee is not made public. The decisions of the Ethics Committee on consumer complaints are not made public. The complaining consumer is merely told whether the complaint has been accepted or rejected.