In a letter sent last week to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, four U.S. Senators urge the ED “to direct federal student loan servicers, debt collectors, and all other third parties” to delay use of the new...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently ruled that a plaintiff’s allegation that an affiant had falsely attested to having personal knowledge of the facts alleged in a debt collection complaint was...more
A federal district court in New York has ruled that a debt collector did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by sending a collection letter in an envelope that allegedly revealed an internal tracking...more
Prior to the amendment, these calls would have been prohibited absent the recipient’s prior express consent if placed to a cellular telephone and if they were made by an automatic telephone dialing system or included an...more
A voicemail message should not be considered a “communication” that is actionable under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled, unless the message at least...more
The CFPB released its fourth Annual Report of the Student Loan Ombudsman discussing complaints received by the CFPB about private and federal student loans and the lessons drawn by the Ombudsman from those complaints. (The...more
10/16/2015
/ Consumer Complaint Management ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Debt Collection ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Student Loans ,
Financial Institutions ,
GAO ,
Loans ,
Private Student Loans ,
Student Loans
The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) has amended several provisions of its Third-Party Debt Collector and Debt Buyer Regulations and issued additional guidance in the form of new frequently asked questions...more
The CFPB, jointly with the FTC, has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Bock v. Pressler & Pressler, LLP, the case in which the district court ruled that a debt collection law firm...more
New York City can regulate the conduct of attorneys engaged in debt collection, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled. In Eric M. Berman, P.C. and Lacy Katzen, LLP v. City of New York, et al., the...more
A federal court in Pennsylvania has ruled that a debt collector violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by sending a collection letter in an envelope that allegedly revealed a barcode in which the plaintiff’s...more
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals recently declined to adopt the “meaningful attorney involvement” standard for Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) claims based on alleged insufficient attorney involvement in debt...more
As previously reported, the Federal Communications Commission recently approved a Declaratory Ruling and Order (the Order) addressing a number of petitions that requested the FCC clarify its interpretations of the Telephone...more
7/14/2015
/ Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Collection Agencies ,
Debt Collection ,
Declaratory Rulings ,
Exemptions ,
FCC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Healthcare ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Revocation ,
TCPA ,
Telemarketing ,
Text Messages
The CFPB has issued a “Mid-year update on student loan complaints” that analyzes the approximately 3,100 private student loan complaints received by the CFPB betweenOctober 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015. The update also analyzes...more
Last week, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine issued a press release announcing the results of a multi-state investigation into the three national credit reporting agencies (CRAs) - Equifax Information Services LLC, Experian...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that a debt collection letter seeking prejudgment interest on the debt did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) or California’s Rosenthal...more
At a recent DBA International Symposium on New York State’s debt collection rules and regulations, New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) Executive Deputy Superintendent Joy Feigenbaum clarified certain provisions in...more
The New York Attorney General and Federal Trade Commission recently announced they had filed two joint federal court lawsuits against debt collectors in the Western District of New York. The Attorney General and FTC are...more
A New York federal district court recently issued a strong denunciation of the practice of debtors attempting to induce debt collectors into committing violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Finding...more
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania recently ruled that a debt collector did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) because it failed to identify itself at the beginning of a...more
In conjunction with its field hearing today on medical debt collection, the CFPB released a study that “describes characteristics of the medical and non-medical collections tradelines on consumers’ credit reports and the...more
The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) published its final debt collection regulations on December 3, 2014, following an extensive rulemaking period. The regulations impose requirements on third-party debt...more
The CFPB has announced that it will hold a field hearing on medical debt collection in Oklahoma City, OK on December 11. The hearing will include remarks from Director Cordray and testimony from consumer groups, industry...more
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York recently ruled that a voicemail message containing the caller’s name and identifying the caller as a debt collector with “an important message” was not a...more
Yesterday, the Second Circuit held that a plaintiff did not provide his “prior express consent” under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to automated calls to his cell phone when he gave his cell phone...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that a collection letter sent by an attorney violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) because it would lead a “hypothetical unsophisticated consumer” to...more