On September 22, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that it issued its first enforcement action against a debt collection company for various practices, including threatening to sue consumers and garnish wages, and for submitting negative information to credit bureaus without first providing required notice, in violation…
On September 20, 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it reached a settlement with the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA), resolving allegations that the state agency unlawfully obtained default judgments against two military servicemembers for student loan debt in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). In a…
On September 8, 2021, the Washington Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced that it had reached a settlement agreement with a debt collection company, resolving allegations that the company had violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA), RCW 19.86, and the Washington Collection Agency Act (CAA), RCW 19.16. The settlement concludes a lawsuit originally filed June…
On September 7, 2021, the Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) announced that it reached a settlement with a debt collection company, resolving allegations that the company engaged in unfair and deceptive debt collection practices in violation of state law. In particular, the company is alleged to have (1) initiated more than two…
Debt collectors operating in California may now submit applications for licensure by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) in compliance with the state’s newly enacted Debt Collection Licensing Act (DCLA). On September 1, 2021, the DFPI announced that it opened its license application for all debt collectors in…
On August 31, 2021, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (Massachusetts AG) announced that it reached a settlement with a Massachusetts-based debt settlement company to resolve allegations that the company violated the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act. The settlement resolves a lawsuit originally filed by the Massachusetts AG in 2018. In the complaint, the Massachusetts AG alleged that the…
On August 17, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a proposed settlement order that would resolve allegations that a debt collection company had violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and its implementing regulation, Regulation V, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The CFPB’s complaint, filed in…
On July 30, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that two final rules issued under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) will take effect as originally planned, on November 30, 2021, thereby scrapping a proposed delay that would have extended the effective dates to January 29, 2022….
On August 12, 2021, the Georgia Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced it had entered into a settlement with a debt collector, resolving allegations that the company violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act (GFBPA). After conducting an investigation, the Georgia AG alleged that the company engaged in…
On August 12, 2021, the Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) announced a settlement with an online loan servicer, resolving allegations that the company engaged in abusive debt collection practices in violation of the AG’s debt collection regulations. After the AG’s Office conducted an investigation into the company, the Massachusetts AG alleged that the company, which…
On June 8, 2020 the Washington Attorney General’s office (Washington AG) announced that a consent order had been reached with a Colorado-based debt collection agency that would require the agency to pay $475,000 to approximately 5,000 Washington consumers to resolve a lawsuit originally filed in April 2020 in Washington state…
On May 14, 2021, the Seventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals issued a decision reaffirming the rule from “a slew of cases” that, without injury, a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) claim alleging a bare procedural violation is not actionable. The case—Markakos v. Medicredi, Inc., No. 20-2351—involved an…
On April 14, 2021, the Indiana Attorney General (Indiana AG) announced that his office obtained a default judgment against an Illinois-based debt collection agency and the agency’s owner. The original complaint filed by the Indiana AG alleged the agency violated Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act by improperly threatening borrowers with legal action, such as liens…
On April 22, the CFPB announced that it and the NY AG had filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York seeking to seize a $1.6 million home they allege was fraudulently transferred by the owner of a shuttered debt-collection scheme. According to the CFPB, after discovering the federal and state…
On April 13, 2021, the Minnesota Attorney General Office (Minnesota AG) announced that it reached a settlement with a California-based student-loan debt-relief company resolving alleged violations of Minnesota’s Debt Services Settlement Act, Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act, Minn. Stat. § 325F.69, et seq., and Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Minn. Stat. § 325D.43, et seq. The Minnesota…
On April 6, 2021, the Pennsylvania Attorney General (Pennsylvania AG) announced that it reached an agreement with a Texas-based debt buyer concerning a portfolio of student loan debt it purchased from a now-defunct for-profit college. According to the Pennsylvania AG, the debt purchaser purchased the portfolio of loans after the for-profit college abruptly closed in December 2018 due to…
On April 6, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a third-party debt collection company and its former owner for alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531, 5536 and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. The CFPB alleged that…
On March 19, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its annual report to Congress regarding its administration of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The CFPB and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) share government enforcement responsibility for the FDCPA, and work together to coordinate their respective efforts…
On February 8, 2021, the Delaware Attorney General (Delaware AG) announced that it filed an administrative lawsuit against a California-based debt-management services company for allegedly violating the Delaware Uniform Debt-Management Services Act, the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act, and the Delaware Deceptive Trade Practices Act. According to the Delaware AG, the debt-management company used misleading advertising to target elderly and…
On January 28, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation (DFPI) announced that it entered into five Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with five different earned wage access companies. Earned wage access companies provide consumers with advances or “on-demand pay” before their pay day for wages that they have earned but not yet received. According to…