CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
CFPB Director Rohit Chopra on Thursday defended his agency’s proposed rule to prohibit the listing of medical debt on credit reports, contending that such debts are not a fair indication of a person’s financial health.
“We’ve done extensive research on whether medical bills on credit reports are predictive of whether a consumer repays their other loans,” Chopra said on Reddit, where he took questions about the proposed rule.… Continue Reading
Vroom, the former used car sales website which halted vehicle sales in January 2024, has agreed to a proposed settlement with the FTC over allegations the company misrepresented that it had examined all vehicles before listing them for sale, failed to obtain customers’ consent to shipment delays and failed to provide prompt refunds when cars were not delivered on time.… Continue Reading
The FTC recently issued a report to Congress on its collaboration with state attorneys general. Titled “Working Together to Protect Consumers: A Study and Recommendations on FTC Collaboration with the State Attorneys General,” the report was issued pursuant to the FTC Collaboration Act of 2021. The Collaboration Act required the FTC to conduct a study “on facilitating and refining existing efforts with State Attorneys General to prevent, publicize, and penalize frauds and scams being perpetrated on individuals in the United States” and directed the FTC to report the results of the study to Congress together with recommendations for enhancing collaboration between the FTC and state AGs.… Continue Reading
On January 22, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) entered into a Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction, Monetary Judgment, and Other Relief (the “Order”) with FloatMe Corp. (“FloatMe”), a fintech that offers short-term cash advances through its mobile app, to settle litigation brought earlier in the month against the fintech and two of its principals (collectively, “Defendants”).… Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced a proposed order settling a Complaint against California-based lead generator Response Tree LLC and its president, Derek Doherty, banning them from making or assisting anyone in making robocalls or calls to phone numbers on the FTC’s Do Not Call (DNC) Registry. The proposed order helps settle pending FTC charges that Response Tree and its president operated more than fifty (50) websites designed to trick consumers into providing personal information for supposed mortgage refinancing and other services.… Continue Reading
The New Jersey Attorney General (NJAG) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced settlements in concurrent actions against Sollers College, a for-profit college, its parent company, Sollers, Inc., and, in the case of the NJAG action, its owner, Siba Padhi (collectively, “Sollers”), resolving allegations that Sollers lured consumers to enroll by inflating its job placement rates and falsely representing that its relationships with prominent employers would create jobs for its graduates. … Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) on September 11, 2023, settled a claim against a group of affiliated entities operating a background reporting business, Instant Checkmate, LLC, TruthFinder, LLC, The Control Group Media Company, LLC, Intelicare Direct, LLC, and PubRec LLC (“background report companies” or “companies”) for alleged misrepresentations that deceived consumers about whether they had criminal records and for operating as a consumer reporting agency without following the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”).… Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently proposed a rule that would impose a number of new substantive and disclosure requirements on auto-dealers in the car-buying process. The FTC described the proposed Rule as one designed “to ban junk fees and bait-and-switch advertising tactics that can plague consumers throughout the car-buying experience.” … Continue Reading
On October 22, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a policy statement providing further guidance on its enforcement of federal law with regard to negative option marketing. The FTC noted in an associated press release that they are “ramping up” enforcement efforts against companies that “trap consumers into subscriptions.” The policy statement is intended to “put companies on notice that they will face legal action if their sign-up process fails to provide clear, up-front information, obtain consumers’ informed consent, and make cancellation easy.”… Continue Reading
The FTC recently announced a settlement of its lawsuit filed in a New York federal district court against a New York City car dealership and its individual general manager in which the FTC alleged that the defendants discriminated against African-American and Hispanic car buyers and engaged in other illegal business practices. … Continue Reading
