A recent District Court decision serves as a reminder to both Plaintiffs and Defendants to properly scrutinize a complaint for well-pleaded factual allegations. In Walker v. Lyons, Doughty & Veldhuis, P.C., et. al, No....more
A recent case from a New York district court serves as a reminder that a single word in a debt collection letter may cause a wave of implications if enough further information is not supplied. In Leonard v. Capital...more
A district court in Michigan recently dismissed an FDCPA action, holding that a letter which included a bankruptcy disclaimer was for informational purposes only and did not violate the FDCPA. Tyler v. Fabrizio & Brook,...more
The CFPB has issued its Semi-Annual Report to Congress for the time period beginning April 1, 2018 and ending September 30, 2018. The Report is the first issued by newly confirmed Director Kathy Kraninger and outlines the...more
3/1/2019
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Consumer Complaint System ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
FDCPA ,
Information Reports ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
Payday Lending Rule ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SBREFA
For the first time in over a year, the CFPB has issued a Complaint Snapshot. A practice started by Cordray in 2015, the report is a high level snapshot of trends in consumer complaints and provides a summary of the volume of...more
Just four days after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP regarding whether non-judicial foreclosures qualify as debt collection under the FDCPA, the Sixth Circuit doubled down on...more
Text messages from a gym to its member were informational in nature and therefore did not violate the TCPA, a district court in Louisiana ruled late last month. The case, Suriano v. French Riviera Health, Spa, Inc., 2018 U.S....more
In a case of first impression, the Fifth Circuit has held that the CFPB’s Mortgage Servicing Rules only apply to servicers and do not impute liability to the lender. In Christiana Trust v. Riddle, the consumer alleged that...more
Relying upon basic principles of contract law, an Alabama district court has held that there are limitations to revocation of prior express consent. In Few v. Receivables Performance Management, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134324...more
A recent case from a Wisconsin district court serves as a reminder that the best approach to a 1692g notice is that it stands alone. In Maniaci v. The Receivable Management Services Corp., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109087 (E.D....more
The aftershocks from the D.C. Circuit’s opinion in ACA International v. FCC are beginning to be felt. In ACA International, the D.C. Circuit set aside several elements of the FCC’s 2015 Declaratory Ruling. A recent opinion by...more
District Court Takes Expansive View of Deceptive or Misleading Practices under FDCPA -
The FDCPA prohibits a debt collector from using "any false, deceptive, or misleading representation" in connection with the collection...more
5/11/2018
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Article III ,
ATDS ,
Collection Agencies ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Reports ,
Debt Collection ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
FCC ,
FDCPA ,
Fees ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreclosure ,
Interest Accrual ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Safe Harbors ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
TCPA ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
A district court has dismissed an FDCPA action based on a bona fide error after reviewing the collection firm’s extensive pre-suit procedures and determining they were reasonably calculated to avoid any errors. Guynn v....more
On April 19, 2018, the CFPB’s Successor in Interest Rules take effect. Here’s what you need to know:
What do the Successor in Interest Rules require?
The Rules are really modifications to the Mortgage Servicing Rules...more
The CFPB has issued its semi-annual report to Congress, leaving little doubt as to the agenda of Acting Director, Mick Mulvaney. While the information contained in the actual report is largely inconsequential, it is...more
The Seventh Circuit recently joined the Fourth and Ninth Circuits in holding that a debt collection discharges its obligation as to debt validation by verifying that its letters accurately conveyed the information received...more
The Seventh Circuit recently joined the Fourth and Ninth Circuits in holding that a debt collection discharges its obligation as to debt validation by verifying that its letters accurately conveyed the information received...more
The House Financial Services Committee voted 35-25 on March 21, 2018 to advance H.R. 5082, officially known as the “Practice of Law Technical Clarification Act of 2018,” to the full House of Representatives. The bill, if...more
The D.C. Circuit has issued its long-awaited decision on the FCC’s 2015 TCPA Declaratory Ruling. ACA International v. Federal Communications Commission, No. 15-1211 (Mar. 16, 2018). The ruling invalidates the FCC’s definition...more
3/26/2018
/ ATDS ,
Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Cell Phones ,
Declaratory Rulings ,
FCC ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Reassigned Phone Numbers ,
Revocation ,
Robocalling ,
Safe Harbors ,
Smartphones ,
TCPA
Any opinion that starts out by stating “[t]his case is about $82.00” is not likely to go well for one party and in this instance, that was the case for Nestor Saroza. A New Jersey district court recently held that a debt...more
The Sixth Circuit recently made clear its position that “Congress cannot override the baseline requirement[s] of Article III of the U.S. Constitution by labeling the violation of any requirements of a statute a cognizable...more
Following up on its decision in Latner v. Mount Sinai Health System, Inc., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 114 (2nd Cir. Jan. 3, 2018), the Second Circuit has again held that a flu shot reminder was a health care message under the TCPA....more
The CFPB recently issued its second Quarterly Consumer Credit Trends Report which examines the impact of changes to credit reporting regarding the reporting of civil public records. ...more
A recent decision from the North District of Illinois has expanded on the Seventh Circuit’s holding in Pantoja v. Portfolio Recovery Assocs., LLC, 852 F.3d 679 (7th Cir. 2017) regarding revival warnings in collections letters...more
3/1/2018
/ Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Collection Action ,
Credit Cards ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Midland Funding ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Statutory Violations ,
Time-Barred Debt
Settle (verb): “to conclude (a lawsuit) by agreement between parties usually out of court. Merriam Webster Dictionary -
The Third Circuit has refined its position as to whether collection of time-barred debt may violate...more