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Dear Green Sheet:

Just wrote to say I am glad The Green Sheet is still around. I have an old link to The Green Sheet online and I just stumbled on it again today. As an individual investor in one of the companies that you mentioned in the past, I stop by about once a month to see if there is any news in the electronic check processing industry. Glad to find you again, and now happily enjoying the details. Keep up the good work!

Jerry Smith

Paul:

Your Reg E tutorial really helped me put the arguments I’ve heard on this issue into great perspective. Thanks for the clear coverage of this tricky territory.

Another item that caught my eye related to the article prepared by Tammy Jo Riebe of the American Collectors Association. In this instance, it seems to me that some further perspective might have been helpful.

The article reported that the ACA members make nearly 87 million consumer contacts each month, and then goes on say that the largest number of complaints the FTC has received in any one month was 1,212. Then, the article compares these two numbers to suggest that complaints are but a minuscule fraction of the contacts, 1 in 72,000. Well, perhaps true, but only to a point. The 87 million represents a huge fraction all of the households in the nation (just over 100 million), or about half of all adults. It seems very unlikely to me that more than a few percent of the households in the nation would be in a situation where they would be subject to collection contacts in any month—certainly not half of all adults or nearly all households. I can’t imagine more than say, 5% being in this circumstance.

Maybe I’m way off here, but given the size of the population it looks to me as if some relatively small fraction of households is getting numerous contacts each month. In my opinion, it would have been more accurate for the ACA to have benchmarked against the numbers of individuals contacted rather than the gross number of contacts. If the number of individuals or households contacted was 5 million, for example, the complaint ratio would have been about 1 in 4,150 rather than the 1 in 72,000 as reported. It is my belief that the lower number is much more realistic than that which was reported.

Didn’t mean to beat this to death...just a thought.

Paul Malone

Liberty Check Printers

Paul:

Your point is well taken on the ACA argument, and I think that you are right that there is some hyperbole built in due to the ACA’s frustration with the matter.

It is difficult in the current consumer climate to do anything legislative to keep the pendulum from swinging further toward the consumer. We seem to be living in a time in which a declining number of people are able to “self actualize”, and a growing number of consumers are finding themselves in financial trouble and are looking for an easy way out.

ACA has been arguing that the FDCPA is unclear on many points, and gives rise to many unwarranted legal actions and complaints. The current battleground is the 30-day proof of claim period, and anything that a collections agency may say in a phone call or by mail, that may over-shadow this period. To say as an example that “this problem needs to be corrected immediately” is believed by some to make a consumer believe (remember, we must live with the most un-sophisticated consumer rule) that they may have to pay something that they don’t owe.

It doesn’t matter of course that in almost all cases, there is no claim or valid dispute from the consumer; it can still give rise to a complaint and many lawsuits. A common response from a consumer is “I don’t have any money right now, and you can’t contact me until I do.”

Attorneys and even large labor unions are, of course, playing to this problem of hyper-technical complaints of alleged FDCPA violations. As a “member benefit” of being a UAW member, the UAW uses a couple of its Detroit legal resources to write to anyone trying to collect from a union member. It doesn’t matter that the consumer owes money, it is expected that in today’s world a couple of well-placed complaint letters and, if necessary, a suit for an alleged FDCPA violation, will not only get the payment obligation to go away, but may even have a $1,000.00 statutory damage payment for the lawyers time.

The FTC’s David Medine, who I have met with on behalf of the ACA, is clearly not a friend of business. It seems to be lost on some people that the amount of uncollected debit in this country eventually flows to the rest of the consuming public.

Good Selling!

Paul H. Green

Dear Sir:

It is my pleasure to e-mail you and I hope you could help me find your book Good Selling! because I have a final college exam at the American University in Cairo, and my professor recommended your book to me. I tried to find the book in my local bookstore in Egypt but I couldn’t find it and I do not have a Visa card to order it from Amazon.com. I can send a cheque to you. Would you mind sending me the book?

Thank you for your time and God bless you.

Sayed

Sayed:

We will mail it to you today. I plan to be in your country in October and I am looking forward to several days in Cairo, as well as travels in the South.

Good Selling!

Paul H. Green

Dear Green Sheet:

In 1997 you had a Special Report on ISOs Looking for Agents representing banks programs. Have you made a more current report on that subject?

Hope to hear from you

Robert Pasieka

PS You have been a great source of information for me. Keep the good work forever.

Robert:

Thank you for your kind words.

The report on ISOs Looking for Agents has been updated annually. The most recent report was published as the February 2000 GSQ: “Feet on the Street,” Subscribers to the print version of The Green Sheet also receive GSQ: Payment Systems Quarterly.

If you would like a copy of the “Feet on the Street” please reply with your mailing address. We will include subscription information, so that you can begin receiving our print publications.

Good Selling!

Julie O’Ryan-Dempsey,

Managing Editor

Hi:

I’m looking for data on credit card fees charged by vendors to merchants over a historical time frame and wonder if you might know of where I could find such information. Thanks for your response.

Mark

Dear Mark:

As I’m sure you understand, not every vendor publishes their information or provides such data. However, we do publish an annual “ISOS Looking for Agent” review, which includes buy rates various ISOs charge merchants. We have published this review for four years and you can find the data on our Web site in the following publications:

Green Sheet issue 97:01:01- “ISOs Looking for Agents”

Green Sheet issue 98:01:02- “ISOs Looking for Agents”

Green Sheet issue 99:01:02- “ISOs Looking for Agents”

GSQ February 2000 issue- “Feet on the Street”

Also the interchange rates charged by Visa and MasterCard may help you as well. You can find them on our Web site in issue 99:02:01.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Luse , Asst. Editor

Dear Green Sheet:

Do you offer online access to back issues?  At one time they were available.

Claude

Claude:

The entire backlist of The Green Sheet from September 1995 is available on our Web site at www.greensheet.com. Simply click on “Previous Issues” and select the year and issue you are interested in.

Additionally, our search engine allows you to access the entire backlist by keyword. The most current issue is available, prior to arriving in your mailbox, under “Subscriber Preview Access.” The current issue is available by clicking “Current Issue.” Issues are moved sequentially through Preview/Current and are then available as Previous Issues.

Good Reading and Good Selling!^SM,

Julie O’Ryan-Dempsey, Managing Editor

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