On September 20, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered summary judgment against two law firms and two individuals for their participation in an allegedly fraudulent mortgage relief scheme. According to the FTC, the law firms misrepresented to consumers that they could obtain monetary recoveries…
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 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 June 5, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that a federal district court had entered its eighth order against the remaining defendants in an illegal robocall ring in which defendants promised to help consumers lower their credit card interest rates. The FTC, in conjunction with the Florida Office of the Attorney…
On May 25, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it filed a complaint in federal court in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida against a student loan debt relief and credit repair company, its affiliated companies, and owner. The complaint alleged that the defendants operated an…
On May 11, 2017, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced a settlement with a Wisconsin bank and two affiliated institutions, resolving allegations that the three lenders violated Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive practices. The lenders allegedly violated this provision by: (1) charging…
On March 31, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it had agreed to settle charges with a prepaid debit card provider for $53 million in monetary relief applied to balances and fees in customers’ accounts. According to the complaint brought by the FTC in the Northern District of Georgia, the company was alleged to…
On February 23, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it entered into a settlement with the final individual defendant in an alleged mortgage relief scheme worth over $1.7 million. As a result of a joint federal-state enforcement sweep known as “Operation Mis-Modification,” the FTC filed a complaint in…
On February 14, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had entered into a stipulated order with a student loan debt collector, resolving allegations that the debt collector violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) in its servicing of over two million accounts in…
On January 24, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Florida Attorney General’s Office announced a settlement with student loan debt relief providers alleged to have participated in a student loan debt relief scheme, resolving allegations that the providers violated the Federal Trade Commission Act, Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act,…
On January 9, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas against one individual and affiliated companies, alleging that they sold portfolios of nonexistent payday loans to debt collectors. The complaint alleges that the companies fabricated lenders and loan…
On November 30, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Florida Attorney General (AG) announced several settlements totaling approximately $27 million in an alleged fraudulent credit card debt reduction scheme. In a set of stipulated orders, all but one defendant agreed to monetary judgments, as well as bans on future telemarketing, selling debt relief services, and credit…
On October 31, the United States District Court for the Western District of New York granted the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) motion for summary judgment against a group of debt collectors, finding that the debt collectors violated the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)….
On October 4, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada issued an order requiring that a racecar driver and several corporate defendants pay $1.3 billion in relation to a Kansas City-based payday lending scheme. The order also bans the individual…
On September 21, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas entered a stipulated order for a permanent injunction and civil penalty judgment against the vice president of a debt collector. Following an investigation of the debt collector by the Federal Trade Commission,…
On September 1, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it entered into a stipulated order for permanent injunction against a group of regional law firms over allegations the firms violated the Federal Trade Commission Act by providing illegal mortgage modification services. According to the FTC, the firms charged illegal…
On August 24, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that the FTC and the Attorney General for the State of New York (New York AG) reached a settlement with a New York debt collector that will ban the owner and his companies from the debt collection business. The action was part…
On August 25, 2016, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that it had agreed to consent orders with a national bank based on its alleged unfair billing practices. The civil money penalty order will require that the bank pay a $3 million civil money penalty. The cease and desist…
On July 14, 2016, the FTC announced that, as part of an ongoing crackdown on deceptive collection practices, it reached a settlement with two debt collectors and three companies charged with using illegal collection tactics. As Enforcement Watch previously covered here, the FTC initially brought the action against the companies in October of 2015 for allegedly taking payments…
On May 9, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a Texas-based debt collector, stemming from allegations that the debt collector had violated the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the Duties of Furnishers of Information to Consumer…