CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
The CFPB says it wants to scrap a Biden Administration rule that prohibits credit reporting agencies from including medical debts on credit reports, one of many Biden era rules that the Trump Administration has sought to nullify.
The rule had been scheduled to take effect in March, but U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan of the Eastern District of Texas, had issued a 90-day stay.… Continue Reading
A federal judge has ordered debt collector, Global Circulation Inc. (GCI) to temporarily halt operations, following an FTC complaint that alleged GCI tricked consumers into paying more than $7.6 million in bogus debt by threatening them with jail time, harassing their family members, and taking other unlawful actions.
U.S. District Judge Eleanor S.… Continue Reading
The most frequent consumer debt collection complaints filed with the CFPB in 2023 were attempts to collect debts that actually were not owed, the bureau said in its annual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act report.
The CFPB said that those complaints amounted to 53% of the debt collection complaints filed with the bureau in 2023.… Continue Reading
A Pennsylvania federal judge has imposed sanctions and lambasted a law firm and its attorneys for having employees write falsified letters on behalf of clients involved in debt collection disputes.
Attorneys Travis Andrew Gordon, and Joshua P. Ward, and their firm, J.P. Ward & Associates, LLC, filed two suits suit on behalf of clients disputing debts.… Continue Reading
California frequently is in the vanguard of consumer financial issues and legislation, foreshadowing trends that may spread to other states. Today’s episode, during which we explore important hot topics and recent developments in California consumer finance law, is hosted by Ballard Spahr partner Melanie Vartabedian, and features Partners Michael Guerrero and Joel Tasca, and Of Counsel John Kimble.… Continue Reading
The CFPB published its Consumer Response Annual Report for 2023, which discusses the consumer complaints received by the CFPB in that year and how companies responded to those complaints. The CFPB monitors consumers’ complaints and companies’ responses in order to glean information about the types of challenges consumers are experiencing with financial products and services.… Continue Reading
On February 9, 2024, the Commissioner of the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (“DFPI” or “Department”) announced a proposed rulemaking limited to certain requirements related to reporting and assessments under the Debt Collection Licensing Act (“DCLA”). It has not yet responded to the comments it received in connection with a separate proposed rulemaking regarding the scope of the DCLA and its application to creditors (persons who extend consumer credit to a debtor).… Continue Reading
On February 7, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s Order granting a motion for judgment on the pleadings and holding that a charged-off loan made by a lender licensed under the Consumer Discount Company Act (“CDCA”) that is subsequently sold to a third-party debt collector is no longer subject to the CDCA and collecting on the debt without holding a CDCA license is not in and of itself a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”).… Continue Reading
The CFPB recently filed two amicus briefs, one in a First Circuit case involving the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the other, which was filed jointly with the Federal Trade Commission, in a Fourth Circuit case involving the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
FDCPA. The FDCPA case is Carrasquillo v.… Continue Reading
The CFPB announced last week that it has entered into a consent order with Commonwealth Financial Systems, Inc. (Commonwealth), a third-party debt collection company that collects past-due medical debts and furnishes information about consumers to consumer reporting agencies (CRAs), to resolve Commonwealth’s alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). … Continue Reading
