On September 18, 2017, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had entered into a $907,000 settlement with an auto loan lender and servicer (“Defendant”). In its complaint, filed the same day in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the DOJ alleged that the Defendant had…
On August 10, in Schweitzer v. Comenity Bank, No. 16-10498 (Aug. 10, 2017), a panel of the Eleventh Circuit expanded liability for companies under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 et seq. (TCPA). Building on the holding in Osorio v. State Farm Bank, F.S.B., 746 F.3d 1242, 1255 (11th…
On August 10, 2017, the Massachusetts Division of Banks (DOB) announced that it had reached, together with the financial regulators of Connecticut, Idaho, Minnesota, and North Dakota, a settlement with two companies, resolving allegations that their debt collection practices failed to comply with state and federal consumer protection laws, including the Fair Debt…
On July 27, 2017, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (Massachusetts AG) announced that it entered into a consent judgment with the largest debt collection law firm in the state and two of its principals. The agreed consent judgment, which asserted violations of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, G.L. chapter 93A, section 2, was entered in…
On July 10, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida entered a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) halting operations and freezing the assets of a debt collection operation, at the request of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”). The FTC charged the defendant company and individuals with violating Section 5(a)…
On July 11, 2017, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a $25 million judgment and permanent injunction against a portfolio management company and a small law office for violations of the Texas Debt Collection Act, Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, and Identity Theft Protection and Enforcement Act. A jury in the District Court of…
On July 13, 2017, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (“Massachusetts AG”) announced that it obtained a preliminary injunction against a debt collection law firm and its principal attorney. The Massachusetts AG alleged that the law firm engaged in unlawful collection practices, in violation of the Massachusetts AG’s debt collection regulations. The law firm collected debts for…
On June 23, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina against a North Carolina debt collection company and its owner, alleging that the defendants took money from consumers for fake or “phantom” debts they did not owe. According…
On May 15, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Midland Funding, LLC, v. Johnson, No. 16–348, in favor of the debt collectors involved in the case. Specifically, Justice Breyer, writing for the Court, held that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U. S. C. §1692 et seq., (FDCPA), which…
On May 26, 2017, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt (Kansas AG) announced that a New York-based debt collector and its owner were banned from debt collection and enforcement in Kansas. Shawnee County District Court Judge Teresa Watson approved the consent judgment ordering the company to stop doing business in Kansas, dismissing…
On May 23, 2017, the District of Columbia Attorney General’s Office announced that it had entered into a consent order with a Maryland debt relief company and its owner for violating the District of Columbia’s Consumer Credit Service Organizations Act, D.C. Code § 28-4601, et seq., by falsely promising to help consumers reduce or eliminate debt. The debt relief…
On May 15, 2017, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office (“Minnesota AG”) announced that it obtained a judgment in a lawsuit filed in Minnesota state court against a debt collection company. As a result of the final judgment, the company is permanently barred from collecting debts in Minnesota and must pay a…
On April 12, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had secured a $2 million civil penalty against the president of a debt collection company for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in United States v. Commercial Recovery Systems, Inc.—one of over a hundred cases brought…
On April 24, 2017, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that a federal court ordered the president of a debt collection company to pay $2 million in civil penalties under the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). A Judge in the U.S. District Court…
On April 18, 2017, the United States Supreme Court, once again with nine justices sitting on the bench, heard oral arguments in Henson v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., No. 16-349, concerning the scope of the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1692 –1692p. As previously…
On April 20, 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO) announced that the president and chief executive officer of a Buffalo-based debt collection company was sentenced to 100 months in prison for engaging in illegal and abusive debt collection practices. According to the USAO, the defendant…
On April 17, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against an Ohio-based debt collection law firm, alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The…
On April 5, 2017, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office (“Colorado AG”) announced that it had secured a judgment against a debt collection agency and two of its principals. The Colorado AG had accused the company of operating without a license and of deceptive collection practices. According to the Colorado AG, the company…
On April 14, 2017, the District of Columbia Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with a California-based debt collection company and its owner arising from allegations that their debt collection practices violated the District of Columbia’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act and Debt Collection Law. The…
On March 28, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released Volume 21 of its Monthly Complaint Report (the “Report”). The purpose of the Report is, in part, to educate consumers and financial institutions on major consumer issues—which it does by providing a high-level analysis of trends in consumer complaints, focusing on one or two…