On May 23, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the New York Attorney General (NY AG) announced that they have settled a case filed against six New York debt collection companies and affiliated individuals, resolving a one-and-a-half year enforcement action. The original complaint was filed on September 20, 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the Western…
On April 12, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a lawsuit in federal court against TransUnion, two of its subsidiaries, and its longtime executive for failing to implement requirements of the CFPB’s 2017 law enforcement order to TransUnion, and for violating Regulation V, which…
On January 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed a complaint against three New York-based debt collection companies and their owners. The CFPB alleged the companies sold debts to collection companies that used unlawful collection tactics. Specifically, the CFPB alleged the companies knew or should have known that the…
On December 13, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it reached a settlement with a group of South Carolina-based debt collection companies to resolve allegations that the companies violated the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FTC’s complaint, originally filed in July…
On November 23, 2021, the New York Attorney General (“NYAG”) announced an agreement shutting down a Buffalo, NY based debt collection firm that the NYAG alleges violated the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (“FDCPA”), the Consumer Financial Protection Act (“CFPA”), and various provisions of the New York General Business Laws. …
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 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 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 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 December 9, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a complaint against a Missouri-based debt collection company in federal court in the Western District of Missouri. The CFPB alleges the company violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692e and 1692g and the Consumer Financial…
On December 8, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a New Jersey debt collection company, resolving allegations that the debt collection company violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The debt collection company was engaged…
On October 15, 2020, the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CFPB) announced that it has reached a proposed settlement with the nation’s largest debt collector. The CFPB previously reached a consent order with this company in 2015 for alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA),…
On September 29, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had filed a pair of lawsuits in federal district court against two debt collection companies, related entities, and owners for allegedly violating the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”). The FTC…
On September 14, 2020, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that she secured protections for thousands of student borrowers who defaulted on student loans and who were allegedly subject to misleading and unlawful actions by one of the nation’s largest debt collectors. The settlement agreement resolves an investigation of…
On September 8, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the New York State Attorney General announced they filed a complaint against five New York debt-collection companies, along with the individual owners and managers of the firms. The complaint, filed in the Western District of New York, alleges the…
On September 8, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it filed a complaint against a group of California-based debt collection companies and their subsidiaries. The complaint, filed in the Southern District of California, alleges the defendants violated the terms of a 2015 consent order (the Order) with the…
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…