The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently ruled that a debtor must show that a debt collector's alleged false representation was material for it to be a "false, deceptive, or misleading representation" in...more
The CFPB has issued its twelfth Semi-Annual Report to the President and Congress covering the period April 1, 2017 through September 1, 2017....more
4/5/2018
/ Administrative Authority ,
Banking Sector ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt Collection ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
HMDA ,
Payday Loans ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation CC ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Restructuring ,
Single Director ,
Title Loans
A letter sent to collect a time-barred debt that makes a settlement offer can, even without a threat of legal action, violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act's (FDCPA) general prohibition against a debt collector's use...more
2/19/2018
/ Appeals ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Settlement Offer ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Time-Barred Debt ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Safe harbor language is not always safe, as illustrated by a recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Boucher v. Finance System of Green Bay....more
A federal district court in Pennsylvania recently granted summary judgment to a debtor in a lawsuit filed against a collection law firm under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)....more
A debt collector cannot avoid claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by purchasing the debtor's lawsuit, according to a recent opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. ...more
A debt-collection law firm's overstatements in a state court complaint of $3,000 in the principal amount due and 0.315 percent in the interest rate were actionable under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) as...more
Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against a foreclosure firm—Reimer, Arnovitz, Chernek & Jeffrey (the Reimer firm)—under the Fair Debt Collection Practices...more
In a 7-4 en banc decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that the bona fide error defense in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) did not protect a debt collector who complied with...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against Midland Funding, LLC (Midland), and its collection law firm under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)....more
The West Virginia Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of a debt collector in an action alleging a violation of West Virginia’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act. In its June 12 decision, the court held that call volume,...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that a purchaser of defaulted debt did not qualify as a debt collector under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) because it did not collect debts "due another", but...more
A federal district court in New Jersey dismissed a putative class-action lawsuit against Total Card, Inc. (TCI), a South Dakota-based debt collector. The plaintiff alleged that TCI violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices...more
Filing a proof of claim in a debtor's Chapter 13 bankruptcy case on a debt that is "obviously time barred" does not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 5-3 decision....more
A collection letter potentially violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) because a box the plaintiff could check to indicate she disputed the validity of the debt was accompanied by a statement that a reason...more
A collection letter potentially violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) because a box that the plaintiff could check to indicate that she disputed the validity of the debt was accompanied by a statement that a...more
A law firm's letter, warning that a lien would be recorded against a woman's home if she failed to pay her annual homeowners association fees, is not exempt from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) as an attempt to...more
As observers ponder the CFPB’s future in a Trump Administration, the Federal Trade Commission’s continuing role as an enforcer of federal consumer financial protection laws should not be overlooked. Over the approximately...more
11/18/2016
/ Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
CROA ,
ECOA ,
EFTA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Institutions ,
FTC Act ,
Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act ,
Military Lending Act ,
Section 5 ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA) ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
A federal district court in Florida 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 a barcode in which the...more
The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari last week in Midland Funding, LLC v. Aleida Johnson, a decision of the 11th Circuit that held that Midland’s filing of a proof of claim in the plaintiff’s bankruptcy case on a...more
A debt collector did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by filing proofs of claim in bankruptcy cases on debts that were time-barred by Maryland’s statute of limitations (SOL), a divided U.S. Court of...more
9/12/2016
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Chapter 13 ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Debt Buyers ,
Debt Collection ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Proof of Claims ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Time-Barred Debt
A debt collection law firm did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by leaving a voicemail message for the plaintiff that identified the law firm but did not expressly state that the law firm was a debt...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has vacated the district court's decision in Bock v. Pressler & Pressler, LLP in which the district court ruled that a debt collection law firm violated the Fair Debt Collection...more
8/5/2016
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing ,
Statutory Damages
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has moved a step closer to issuing a debt collection rule by releasing an outline of the proposals it is considering in preparation for convening a small business review panel....more
8/1/2016
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt Buyers ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
Dodd-Frank ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Institutions ,
SBREFA ,
Small Business ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
Time-Barred Debt
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied certiorari to review the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC.
As previously reported, Madden involved a putative class action...more
6/28/2016
/ Banking Sector ,
Debt Buyers ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Interest Rates ,
Madden v Midland Funding ,
National Bank Act ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Preemption ,
Putative Class Actions ,
SCOTUS ,
Solicitor General ,
Usury