FDCPA and Regulation F Defense for Collection Firms: Bona Fide Error Files and Class Claim Triage

Jenna Williams, Partner | Frost Echols, LLC

Jenna Williams advises creditors and collection agencies nationwide on federal and state regulatory compliance, including the FDCPA, the TCPA, and the FCRA. She reviews collection notices sent by mail, email, and text; builds and evaluates compliance management systems; and conducts internal agency audits. She also defends clients in investigations by the CFPB, the FTC, and state regulators, and her practice includes litigation defense. Her focus is careful, detailed compliance advice paired with practical solutions that keep operations efficient and serve each client’s business goals.

• Education & Credentials

Jenna holds a B.B.A. in Business from the University of Florida and received her J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2012. She is licensed to practice in North Carolina and South Carolina and is admitted to the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina.

• Recognition & Leadership

Jenna is a partner of Frost Echols, LLC and a member of ACA International’s Collection Notice Review (CNR) Attorney Panel.

• Professional Involvement

Jenna’s professional work is concentrated in the credit and collection industry, where she counsels creditors and collection agencies across the country and negotiates and drafts their vendor and collection service contracts.

• Experience

Jenna joined The Echols Firm, LLC, now Frost Echols, LLC, in 2017 after beginning her legal career in family law. Her compliance work includes reviewing mail, email, and text collection notices, auditing agency practices, and designing and assessing compliance management systems. Alongside that advisory work, she represents clients in litigation and in regulatory investigations by the CFPB, the FTC, and state regulators.

Chad Echols, Partner | Frost Echols, LLC

Chad Echols has substantial experience in both the defense and the compliance sides of pre-default and post-default debt collection. His practice centers on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, together with compliance work for collection agencies and debt purchasers, business law, civil litigation, and commercial collections. He appears in federal and state trial and appellate courts. Before co-founding Frost Echols, LLC with Mike Frost, he owned and managed The Echols Firm, LLC for more than ten years.

• Education & Credentials

Chad earned his B.S. from Clemson University in 1998 and his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2002, where he was a member of the South Carolina Environmental Law Journal. After law school he clerked for the Honorable John C. Hayes III in South Carolina’s Sixteenth Judicial Circuit.

He is admitted before the Supreme Court of the United States; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fourth, Eighth, and Eleventh Circuits; the U.S. District Courts for the District of South Carolina and the Eastern District of Michigan; and the State of South Carolina. Through ACA International he has held the Professional Collections Specialist Certificate since 2005 and earned the ACA Scholar Designation in 2013.

• Recognition & Leadership

Chad has held a series of leadership roles within ACA International, the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals. He served on its Industry Defense Task Force Committee from 2012 to 2013 and on its Board of Directors from 2009 to 2011. He chaired the Members’ Attorney Program (MAP) Committee in 2008–2009 after serving on it from 2006 to 2008, and since 2011 he has been ACA’s South Carolina State Legislative Chair and South Carolina MAP State Chair. He is also a member of ACA International’s Collection Notice Review (CNR) Attorney Panel.

• Professional Involvement

Chad sits on ACA International’s Judicial Committee and serves as Unit Secretary/Treasurer for the South Carolina Collectors Association. He is a member of the South Carolina Bar Association and serves on the Bar’s Fee Dispute Resolution Board for the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit.

In his community, he serves on the boards of the YMCA of the Upper Palmetto, the York County Community Foundation, and the York County Clemson Club, on the YMCA Camp Cherokee Advisory Board, on the Board of Governors for the Come-See-Me Festival, on the Board of Managers for the Anne Spring Close Greenway, and on the Board of Trustees for Clinton College.

• Experience

Chad entered the credit and collection industry as Vice President and General Counsel of Williams & Fudge, Inc., a national student loan collection agency in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and he continues to serve as its outside general counsel. His representative matters include Hekel v. Hunter Warfield, Inc., 118 F.4th 938 (8th Cir. 2024); Avila v. Reliant Capital Solutions, LLC, 2019 WL 2359386 (2d Cir. Jun. 4, 2019); and United Resource Systems, Inc. v. Wilson, 614 F.Supp.3d 243 (D.S.C. 2022), along with a series of matters involving Dynamic Recovery Solutions, LLC in federal courts in Alabama, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, and South Carolina.

Beyond the collection industry, his litigation experience includes banking and financial services, commercial, and construction disputes, as well as arbitration and mediation.

SESSION 1 – Advising Debt Collection Agencies: Practical FDCPA and Regulation F Compliance | Jenna Williams | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

This one-hour CLE provides attorneys with a practical overview of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Regulation F, focusing on the legal and operational compliance issues that arise when advising third-party debt collection agencies and debt buyers.

Drawing on real-world compliance scenarios, the presentation will examine the federal requirements governing collection communications, validation notices, and digital collection practices. Attention will be given to common compliance mistakes and how minor operational issues can create significant legal exposure.

Rather than a technical, provision-by-provision review of the FDCPA, this session will focus on the legal requirements and practical compliance considerations that attorneys are most likely to encounter when advising debt collection agencies and debt buyers.

This session is intended for attorneys who represent or advise debt collection agencies and debt buyers, in-house counsel, regulatory and compliance attorneys, and practitioners interested in developing a better understanding of federal debt collection compliance.

Attendees will learn how to identify common FDCPA and Regulation F compliance risks, evaluate collection agency practices against federal requirements, and recommend practical solutions that balance legal compliance with operational efficiency.

The session will emphasize how proactive legal guidance can help agencies prevent consumer complaints, regulatory investigations, and costly litigation.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 2 – Triaging FDCPA Complaints Against Collection Firms from Demand Letter to Dispositive Motion | Chad Echols |1:10pm – 2:10pm

I will teach defense-side FDCPA triage for collectors, debt buyers, and collection law firms: taking demand letters and filed complaints from intake to conclusion. I will discuss early settlement, motion practice, standing and removal, the bona fide error defense, §1692k class-cap sizing, and other aspects of an effective defense strategy. There is a significant rise in filed cases and pre-suit demands this year. I will also address the explosion of pro se claims with AI assistance.

This hour runs through various FDCPA fact patterns through a defense-side decision tree. Each pattern will highlight the pros and cons of the strategy, how to determine whether the chosen strategy fits the pattern, and other meaningful considerations. This is not a session on insurance, but it will also address general insurance considerations impacting the decision-making process. Attendees leave with real world examples and understandings that should improve confidence in making decisions that arise when an entity is threatened while balancing the risk versus reward of an aggressive defense.