On March 27, 2020, the Massachusetts Attorney General filed an emergency regulation interpreting the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, M.G.L.  Chapter 93A, to address certain practices by creditors and debt collectors that it has determined to be unfair and deceptive under present circumstances.  The regulation, entitled “Unfair and Deceptive Debt Collection Practices During the State of Emergency Caused by COVID-19” (940 CMR 35:00), applies to “creditors” (as defined in 940 CMR 7.03) and “debt collectors” (as defined in the emergency regulation).… Continue Reading

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently ruled in Horia v. Nationwide Credit & Collection, Inc. that a consumer was not precluded from bringing a second FDCPA lawsuit against a debt collector for failing to notify a credit reporting agency that the debt was disputed even though the first lawsuit brought by the consumer against the debt collector alleging the same FDCPA violation in connection with a different debt had been settled and dismissed with prejudice.… Continue Reading

Ballard Spahr partner Stefanie Jackman, who leads the firm’s Debt Collection Team, has been appointed to the new Legal Advisory Board (LAB) that the Consumer Relation Consortium (CRC) is launching in 2020.  The LAB is an exclusive group of not more than ten outside counsel with expertise in the accounts receivable industry who have each pledged their time and resources to support the CRC’s mission.… Continue Reading

The DOJ has filed an amicus brief in support of the defendant debt collector in Rotkiske v. Klemm, the case before the U.S. Supreme Court that hopefully will resolve a circuit court split over whether the FDCPA one-year statute of limitations (SOL) runs from the date of the alleged violation or starts upon a consumer’s discovery of the violation. … Continue Reading

The CFPB has issued a new report on tradelines reported by third-party debt collectors as reflected on credit reports compiled by nationwide consumer reporting agencies.  The third-party collector tradelines consist of those reported by debt buyers and those reported by non-buyers (i.e. where the debt is still owned by the original creditor). … Continue Reading

It has been reported that, without announcement or warning, the regulations applicable to third-party debt collectors in Massachusetts may have changed.  While the state’s Division of Banks (DOB) and the state’s Attorney General (AG) have traditionally regulated, respectively, third-party debt collectors and first-party creditors, the AG is reported to have changed its website recently to include third-party debt collectors as entities that it regulates.… Continue Reading

Beginning in 2019, all California “debt collectors”—including creditors collecting their own debts regularly and in the ordinary course of business—will be required to provide notice to debtors when collecting on debts that are past the statute of limitations and will be prohibited from suing on such debts. The new law is based on provisions in the 2013 California Fair Debt Buying Practices Act.… Continue Reading

Regulators from the states of Connecticut, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota and North Dakota (“Participating States”) have entered into a settlement agreement with three affiliated debt collection companies to settle allegations that the companies engaged in collection activities that violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the FTC Act, and state laws and regulations. … Continue Reading

The Ninth Circuit has ruled that the FDCPA requirement in 15 U.S.C. §1692g(a) for “a debt collector” to send a validation notice either in “the initial communication” or “[w]ithin five days after the initial communication with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt” not only applies to the first debt collector that contacts a consumer to collect a particular debt,  but also applies to subsequent debt collectors that communicate with the consumer about the same debt.… Continue Reading

On March 29, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case in which the CFPB joined the Solicitor General in filing an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs.  The court granted the SG’s motion to participate in the oral argument.

The plaintiffs in Sheriff v.Continue Reading