On January 16, 2020, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced it had reached a settlement with a point-of-sale lender to stop making illegal loans and refund $282,000 in fees it collected from almost 17,000 California consumers. In September 2019, the lender applied to the California DBO for a lender’s license. Upon review of the lender’s product and information, the California…
On December 11, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it had reached a settlement with the remaining Defendants in an enforcement action against multiple related companies and their controllers involved in an alleged phantom debt scheme in which the Defendants pressured consumers into paying non-existent debts by threatening legal action…
On September 25, 2019, California’s Governor signed into law two bills that impact financial consumer services companies in California: California Assembly Bill 539 and California Senate Bill 187. Both laws go into effect January 1, 2020. California Assembly Bill 539 (AB 539) imposes new regulations and restrictions on loans of…
On November 11, 2019, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced that it had settled an investigation against a national debt buyer and collector for alleged violations of Massachusetts’ consumer protection law and debt collection regulations through its debt-collection practices. Specifically, the AG alleged that the debt collector pressured debtors…
On August 8, 2019, the Seventh Circuit, in Lavallee v. Med-1 Solutions, LLC, 932 F.3d 1049 (7th Cir. 2019), ruled that emails to consumers from debt collectors containing hyperlinks to information regarding debt, including validation notices, are not “communications” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Therefore, the court…
On August 28, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a settlement with an Illinois-based debt collection company, resolving allegations that the company engaged in deceptive practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531 and 5536, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C….
On July 25, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and the New York Attorney General (“New York AG”) announced that they have filed two proposed settlements with three debt collection companies and two individuals who conducted business together in Buffalo, New York. The proposed settlements were filed in the U.S. District Court for…
On July 9, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it settled its lawsuit against the nation’s largest debt-settlement services provider for allegedly engaging in deceptive debt-settlement acts or practices. The company agreed to pay $20 million in restitution to affected consumers and a $5 million civil money penalty….
On June 6, 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a declaratory ruling providing voice service providers with the authority to automatically enroll consumers for call blocking programs that identify and block unwanted telephone calls. This ruling is effective immediately. The ruling comes at a time when unwanted call volume…
On July 1, 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James (“New York AG”) announced that together with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the agencies had entered into a settlement with a debt collection company, a related entity, and corporate officers to resolve a case filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of New…
On May 7, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (Notice) to implement the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The Bureau’s stated purpose for the proposed rules, which would be placed in the existing Regulation F, is to “set clear,…
On April 5, 2019, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision holding that a plaintiff asserted a plausible claim under a provision of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) that forbids debt collectors from using “false, deceptive, or misleading representation[s] or means in connection with the collection…
On March 22, 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed summary judgment in Henderson v. United Student Aid Funds, Inc., 2017 WL 766548 (S.D. Cal. Feb. 28, 2017), and remanded the matter back to the Southern District of California to determine if a student loan lender could be vicariously liable for…
On February 25, 2019, the United States Supreme Court accepted appeal from the Third Circuit’s decision in Rotkiske v. Klemm et al., No. 16-1668 (3d Cir. May 15, 2018). The Court is now primed to answer whether the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) encompasses the “discovery rule”—which tolls the…
On February 8, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina granted its motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against 10 debt collection companies and six individuals operating out of New York and North Carolina. The FTC alleged…
The issue of whether the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) applies to non-judicial foreclosure proceedings is now squarely before the U.S. Supreme Court. Following oral arguments last week in the case Obduskey v. Wells Fargo, et al., No. 17-1307, the Justices will be tasked with deciding whether non-judicial foreclosures qualify…
On December 28, 2018, the Massachusetts Division of Banks (“Division”) entered into a consent agreement with a licensed debt collector to resolve allegations that it had engaged in debt collection practices that were not compliant with applicable state law. The consent agreement follows a compliance examination of the company. The…
On December 11, 2018, the Massachusetts Division of Banks (“Division”) entered into a consent agreement with a California small loan company and licensed debt collector to resolve allegations that the company had collected interest in excess of the maximum amount permitted under state law. The consent agreement follows a compliance…
On December 4, 2018, one of the nation’s largest debt buyers and its subsidiaries reached a settlement with 42 states and the District of Columbia (see, e.g., announcements here and here). The settlement closes the states’ multi-year investigation into the company’s collection and litigation practices, including alleged violations of the…
On November 1, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the New York Attorney General’s Office announced their lawsuit against a New York-based debt collection operation, which alleges that the debt collection entities tricked people into agreeing to pay more money than what they allegedly owed in violation of Section 13(b) of the…