On January 11, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued two “advisory opinions” addressing the CFPB’s views of the obligations of consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) under the Fair Credit Reporting Act...more
In a change of course, the Utah court of appeals has reversed the dismissal of a plaintiffs’ suit against a debt collector based on its alleged failure to register as a collection agency prior to filing collection suits....more
A magistrate judge in the Northern District of Georgia recently recommended granting summary judgment in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) case in favor of a background reporting company on the grounds that a report given...more
On December 8, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, the agencies) filed an amici curiae brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to reverse a...more
On December 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it had reached a settlement with medical debt collector Commonwealth Financial Systems, Inc. (Commonwealth) in its lawsuit over alleged illegal debt...more
12/19/2023
/ Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Medical Debt ,
Settlement
On October 18, Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the Eastern District of Virginia approved a $70 million settlement in an antitrust case, with more than $23.3 million awarded to the plaintiffs’ attorneys. This case helpfully...more
12/18/2023
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Class Action ,
Drug Pricing ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Price-Fixing ,
Settlement ,
Settlement Negotiations
In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a report highlighting various unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices it claims to have uncovered during its supervisory examinations from July 2022 to...more
12/15/2023
/ Automotive Loans ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
ECOA ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lenders ,
Loans ,
Mortgages ,
Regulation B ,
Regulation V ,
Regulation Z ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On December 13, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law S4907A, which prohibits hospitals, medical providers, or ambulance services from providing negative information about medical debt to consumer reporting agencies...more
12/15/2023
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Creditors ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt ,
New Legislation ,
New York ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
State and Local Government
The Fair Credit Reporting Act saw no shortage of activity in the first half of 2023. That activity included federal and state legislation. Congress has introduced several bills intended to amend the FCRA — and on the state...more
A U.S. District Court in the Southern District of California recently held that a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 offer of judgment must clearly state that attorneys’ fees and costs are limited or waived, as Arvest Central...more
12/7/2023
/ Attorney's Fees ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA) ,
Consumer Litigation ,
Credit Reports ,
Damages ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Forbearance Agreements ,
Mortgages ,
Offer of Judgment ,
Rule 68 ,
Statutory Violations
According to a recent report by WebRecon, court filings under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) were down for the month of October, but filings under the Fair Debt Collection...more
The first half of 2023 has produced significant developments for the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Important decisions have come from multiple areas of the field, including the federal courts of appeals and regulatory...more
11/30/2023
/ Amicus Briefs ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Fraud ,
Identity Theft ,
Oral Argument
On November 9, a magistrate judge in the Northern District of Georgia issued a Report & Recommendation to grant a motion to dismiss because the plaintiff’s Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) claims were time-barred...more
11/21/2023
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Data Brokers ,
Debt Buyers ,
Debt Collectors ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Statute of Limitations
On November 16, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released its Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) Annual Report detailing the CFPB’s 2022 activities related to debt collection practices. This...more
11/21/2023
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Debt ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Medical Debt
On October 24, the Biden-Harris administration announced amendments to the regulations implementing title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA). According to the fact sheet, the amendments are intended to allow the...more
11/3/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Education ,
Educational Institutions ,
Financial Aid ,
Financial Institutions ,
Higher Education Act ,
Public Comment ,
Statutory Requirements ,
Student Loans ,
Students ,
Title IV ,
Transcripts ,
Tuition
On October 30, President Biden issued a sweeping Executive Order calling on Congress to enact privacy laws and directing federal agencies to review existing rules and potentially explore new rulemakings governing the use of...more
11/2/2023
/ Algorithms ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bias ,
Biden Administration ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discrimination ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Machine Learning ,
Popular ,
Risk Assessment ,
Rulemaking Process
A U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin recently denied both the defendant and plaintiff’s summary judgment motions in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) case, holding that the reasonableness of the...more
10/27/2023
/ Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Cross Motions ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
Debtors ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Identity Theft ,
Reasonableness Factors ,
Summary Judgment
On October 19, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its highly anticipated notice of proposed rulemaking under Section 1033 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA). The proposed Personal...more
10/26/2023
/ Comment Period ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Data Privacy ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Open Banking ,
Personal Data ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation E ,
Regulation Z
On October 17, following Washington Attorney General (AG) Bob Ferguson’s unsuccessful consumer protection action against thrift store chain, Savers Value Village Inc. (Savers), the Washington Superior Court of King County...more
On October 12, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied certification of a putative class action asserting that TransUnion violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Missouri...more
A new enforcement action provides more detail on the expectations of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, the agencies) for the content of tenant screening reports....more
10/17/2023
/ Civil Penalty Fund ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Rental Property ,
Screening Procedures ,
Tenants ,
TransUnion ,
TransUnion LLC v Ramirez
On October 11, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) published a special edition of its Supervisory Highlights report. This report serves as a “victory lap” for the Bureau, which highlights the relief it...more
10/13/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Hidden Fees ,
Insufficient Funds ,
Overdraft Fees ,
Popular ,
Proposed Rules ,
Supervisory Highlights
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a district court’s reading of an exception into §1681s-2(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) that would allow a furnisher discretion to refuse to investigate an indirect...more
As discussed here, on September 21 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released an outline of its plans for rulemaking under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The outline was supplied for initial comment to a...more
Recently, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, the agencies) filed an amici curiae brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reverse a...more