Jamaica’s debt collection agencies are getting their proverbial houses in order as they take steps to ensure that they are compliant with the provisions of the new Data Protection Act (DPA).

This is what led in part to the first ever conference of the newly-formed Jamaica Debt Collectors Association (JDCA) which took place last Wednesday at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston. According to the provisions of the DPA, debt collection agencies must be registered in order to conduct business in Jamaica.

Chairman of the JDCA, Christopher Johnson, said this led in part to last week’s conference. He shared that the JDCA was only formed in April this year.

“Regarding this Data Protection Act, as collections agencies we believe it can make or break our business. If you look at the fines that can be imposed for data breaches for example, we could run into serious problems,” Johnson said. He listed the DPA as potentially the biggest challenge facing the sector.

Said Johnson:“The Data Protection Act is a big risk; remember that if there’s a breach we’re going to lose business, our clients might fire us because we would have let out their information so they would be breached as well. So that’s why we said we had to put this conference together because we want our clients to have confidence in using third party debt collection agencies”.

“We also want the agencies to understand that when clients give us their information we have to put in measures to protect that information,” added Johnson who is also the CEO of Jamaica Collections and Recovery Services Limited. He said the various agencies, including his company, have been proactive in implementing certain changes.

“As an association we’re promoting a togetherness, hence our coming together at this conference. We also acknowledge that there’s room for improvement in the way debt collectors operate in Jamaica,” he said.

The conference was addressed by the Acting Information Commissioner in the Office of the Information Commissioner, David Grey. He used a 90-minute power point presentation to take the debt collectors through the main provisions of the DPA, including the obligations and requirements of debt collectors and the agencies.

Wednesday’s conference was well attended. It brought out nearly all the top debt collection agencies in Jamaica including the eight largest entities and about 35 active members. “As long as people see the relevance of an association like this it can only grow; we’re also saying to Jamaica, do business with one of the companies that are part of the JDCA,” said Johnson.

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