The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is escalating up its oversight of the debt collection industry and, as part of those efforts, has publicly released nearly 5,000 reports to its Consumer Complaint Database.

Through an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) released on Wednesday, the CFPB said it plans to collect data on a variety of industry issues, including the accuracy of information used by debt collectors and the tactics they use.

A statement issued by the CFPB details the complexity of the multi-billion dollar debt collection marketplace and the broad scope of its efforts. Banks and other original creditors may collect their own debts or hire third-party debt collectors. Original creditors and other owners of debts also may sell their debts to debt buyers, who may collect on the purchased debts or hire third-party debt collectors to recover them. It is estimated that there are more than 4,500 debt collection firms in the U.S.

The main law that governs the industry and protects consumers is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). In 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act revised the FDCPA, making the CFPB the first agency with the power to issue substantive rules under the statute.

Debt collection has long been one of the most complained about subject areas to government regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission. In July 2013, the CFPB began accepting debt collection complaints and it quickly became one of the highest categories of grievances. Common complaints are harassment, demands for debts not owed, and unwarranted threats.

The ANPR asks for feedback on how debt collectors identify account holders, how they make sure they are pursuing the correct person, what means they use to verify someone's identity, and how they respond when a consumer says they have the wrong person.

The CFPB will seek more information about how debt collectors ensure they are seeking to recoup accurate sums. The ANPR also solicits feedback on what documents get sold with a debt, what documents consumers should have access to, and what documents collectors should be required to provide to a consumer. Other questions it raises are whether federal rules can better ensure that consumers receive clear information about debts and their legal rights, how legal rights are disclosed, and whether new rules could improve those disclosures.

The ANPR asks for feedback on whether harmful communication tactics are happening that are not specifically addressed in the FDCPA. Among the issues it raises is how federal rules can better regulate contact frequency contact methods, and claims made by collectors. The last item reflects concerns that some debt collectors falsely threaten to initiate a lawsuit or criminal prosecution, garnish wages, damage or ruin a consumer's credit rating, seize property, get them fired from their job, or have a them jailed. The CFPB hopes to assess the prevalence of these unwarranted threats.

The CFPB this week also added approximately 5,000 consumer debt collection complaints to its Consumer Complaint Database. These are complaints that the CFPB has received, and that companies have responded to, since the CFPB began accepting debt collection complaints on July 10, 2013. Currently, debt collection is on par with mortgages in terms of daily complaint volume, with both accounting for approximately 30 percent of consumer grievances. The database currently contains more than 155,000 complaints on a wide variety of financial consumer issues, including mortgages, student loans, and credit cards.

These efforts will build upon other CFPB efforts. In October 2012, it issued a rule establishing CFPB supervisory authority over nonbank debt collectors with more than $10 million in annual receipts. It covers approximately 175 debt collectors accounting for more than 60 percent of the industry's annual receipts.