In Mexico, debt collection by telephone has been part of the background noise for many people for years. Insistent calls, messages at odd hours and contacts that cross the line of reason have turned collection into one of those abuses that are often suffered before even understanding who should be responsible for them. For a long time, the pressure was concentrated on the office that dials or writes. But behind this harassment there is more than just an unknown number on the other end of the line: there is also a financial institution that hired him.
The key resolution. The underlying novelty is not minor. On January 15, 2026, the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) closed the door to one of the arguments with which some financial entities sought to release sanctions linked to their reports on collection offices. The ruling confirmed the validity of the framework that allows CONDUSEF to fine them when they fail to comply with these information obligations. According to the SCJN statement, in addition, there is a time limit to act: the authority has a maximum of 180 calendar days, counted from the expiration of the period granted for the hearing guarantee, to issue and notify the corresponding resolution.
What this does change. The scope of the ruling goes beyond a technical discussion between courts and financial entities. The responsibility does not end with the firm that engages in improper practices, but can also reach the financial institution that hired it if it fails to comply with its reporting duties to the CONDUSEF. In other words, the entity can no longer hide so easily that the harassment was carried out by a third party. If you failed to report what the law requires, you may also be sanctioned.
The origin of the fight. To understand why this case ended up in the Supreme Court, we must go back to October 14, 2022. That day, the Provision on Records before CONDUSEF was published in the DOF, which established new obligations for financial institutions in their relationship with collection offices. Among other things, the rule obliged them to register these third parties with the Registry of Collection Offices and to submit reports on user complaints. The fines that came later were born precisely from that previous framework.
The route the banks took. After the fines for non-compliance with these reports began, several financial entities chose to fight the matter in court. These resources moved between 2023 and 2025 until they led to Amparo in Review 323/2025. In the case reviewed by the Supreme Court, the SCJN itself explained that the sanctioned entity alleged that the rules did not make it clear who was obliged to provide the information and that there were no clear time limits to sanction it. That was, in essence, the defense with which he tried to overturn the punishment.
The Plenary’s response. The Supreme Court rejected the idea that these rules left financial institutions on uncertain ground. He assured that the framework that regulates reports on collection dispatches is clear and coherent, because it identifies the obligated subjects, establishes the charges that must be met and allows for precisely locating when there is non-compliance. For this reason, it concluded that the principles of typicity, reservation of law and legal certainty invoked by the entity that promoted the protection are not violated.
What changes from now on. Rather than inaugurating a new rule, this ruling consolidates one that already existed and that had been challenged by financial entities. The difference is important, because based on this criterion it is much more difficult to maintain that there was not enough clarity to comply or to be sanctioned. In practical terms, the decision strengthens the position of CONDUSEF and makes it clearer that financial entities can also be administratively sanctioned when they fail to comply with the information obligations provided for by the regulation.
Imágenes | pvproductions (Freepik)
In WorldOfSoftware | Mexico has an ambitious plan to be the tenth economy in the world and that involves technology: semiconductors
