Lund Elected Encore Chairman

Encore Capital Group, Inc., a San Diego buyer and manager of charged-off credit card and other consumer receivables, elected George Lund as its chairman Thursday.

Mr. Lund joined Encore's board a year ago and has been serving on its audit committee. He succeeded Carl C. Gregory 3rd, the former chief executive, who will remain on the board until its next annual meeting.

Encore, which is currently embroiled in a dispute with one of its clients, said it has "demonstrated progress" since April of last year, when private investors agreed to buy minority stakes in the company.

J. Brandon Black, its current CEO, said in a press release that Encore "has focused its operations on its core competencies, strengthened its balance sheet, improved its collections capabilities, and significantly increased its committed credit facility."

This summer its relationship with a longtime client, CompuCredit Corp., soured as a result of federal regulatory action.

The Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. filed lawsuits in June accusing CompuCredit, an Atlanta marketer of subprime credit cards, of deceptive marketing practices. Encore, which has been a regular purchaser of receivables from CompuCredit's Jefferson Capital Systems LLC, said last month that the suits put CompuCredit in breach of their agreement; the marketer replied by saying Encore was in breach itself for not making a scheduled purchase last month.

During an earnings call this month, CompuCredit said that the dispute was in arbitration. An Encore spokesman said Thursday that no update was available.

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