A very interesting perspective coming from this New York Times article re: the debt collections industry. Tired of being harassed, threatened, and cursed at, the industry’s trade association is going on a “charm offensive” to educate the public and the financial services’ new regulator: ‘Hey, we are people too.’

“There really ought to be a law on how consumers behave towards debt collectors,” said Mr. Neeb, whose employees routinely use aliases on the phone to protect their identity from hostile debtors.

ACA International has beefed up its lobbying operation in Washington to pursue a wish list of laws and regulations that it would like changed, and has even set up a Web site called: Ask Doctor Debt.