This is a desk note for operating companies and creditors for the week of October 4, 2026. Figures and rules are cited to the sources named. Pricing bands on this site are conversation ranges, not offers. This note is not legal advice.
The rule that puts a nonbank debt collector under Consumer Financial Protection Bureau supervision is still the one published in 2012. A nonbank is a larger participant in the consumer debt collection market if its annual receipts from consumer debt collection are more than $10 million. That test is in 12 CFR 1090.105. The Bureau’s own August 8, 2025 advance notice of proposed rulemaking describes the threshold as current and asks whether it should be amended. An advance notice is not a new threshold. No replacement dollar figure is in force.
Medical-bill receipts are generally kept out of that $10 million count. Commercial receivables are a different file. The test is about supervision of collection activity. It is not a license to buy paper, and it is not a ban on buying paper.
What still applies when a firm is under or over the line
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 and the sections that follow, still defines who is a debt collector. Regulation F still took effect on November 30, 2021, for firms that meet that definition. Call windows, the validation notice, and the limits on harassment do not switch off because a firm’s receipts sit under $10 million, and they do not switch off because the Bureau is reconsidering who it examines.
Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc., 582 U.S. 79 (2017), still holds that collecting a debt you own is outside the “owed or due another” definition. A company whose principal purpose is the collection of debts can still be examined under the other definition. The longer note is FDCPA and Regulation F for companies that buy portfolios.
What a creditor should still put in the sale file
Supervision headlines do not replace the package. For a charge-off sale this week, the file still needs one product, one cut-off date, unpaid principal at that date, and a media pull the buyer can count. If the accounts were sold before, the chain of title has to match the account IDs. The cut-off date is the fact date for balances, paid-prior accounts, and deceased status. On this desk the 90-day warranty starts after closing and funding, not on the cut-off date. After funding, the seller forwards debtor communications and does not keep servicing the accounts.
| Question this week | Where it sits |
|---|---|
| Is the $10 million larger-participant test still the rule? | Yes. 12 CFR 1090.105. The August 2025 notice asks whether to change it. |
| Does that test decide whether a sale is allowed? | No. It decides who the Bureau may examine for collection activity. |
| What does the buyer still have to be able to show? | Title, the schedule of IDs, and the documents behind the media flag. |
| When does the warranty start? | After closing and funding, for 90 days. |
How the desk is using the week
A creditor with one product and one cut-off can submit the snapshot without waiting on a supervision rule that has not been amended. Buyers who collect, and who want to know whether the larger-participant test might reach them, should read the advance notice and 12 CFR 1090.105 with their own counsel. ACA International membership and Receivables Management Association International certification remain credentials a seller may ask about. They are not a substitute for the sample, and they are not the $10 million test.
The field list is the data tape. The date rules are on cut-off, closing, and funding. The Bureau’s advance notice is on the rules-under-development page for the consumer debt collection larger-participant test.