The National Consumer Law Center is asking the CFPB, by way of a petition, for rulemaking that is long on policy arguments but woefully short on legal support, as we note below, to define residential leases as “credit” under...more
8/28/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit ,
Credit Reports ,
Creditors ,
Data Collection ,
ECOA ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Services Industry ,
NCLC ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation B ,
Regulation Z ,
Residential Leases ,
Small Business ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
CFPB Director Rohit Chopra on Thursday defended his agency’s proposed rule to prohibit the listing of medical debt on credit reports, contending that such debts are not a fair indication of a person’s financial health....more
8/12/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Reports ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Healthcare ,
Lenders ,
Medical Debt ,
Proposed Rules
The steady drumbeat of steps during Rohit Chopra’s tenure as CFPB Director to call into question the reliability and predictability of medical debt information in credit underwriting reached a crescendo last week with the...more
6/18/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Credit Reports ,
Creditors ,
Data Brokers ,
Debt Collection ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation V ,
Regulatory Agenda
The CFPB has released the Spring 2024 edition of Supervisory Highlights. The report discusses CFPB examinations in connection with credit reporting and furnishing that were completed from April 1, 2023 through December 31,...more
On January 11, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued two new advisory opinions: Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening and Fair Credit Reporting; File Disclosure. The advisory opinions are part of...more
1/17/2024
/ Background Screening Services ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Housing Market ,
Landlords ,
Rental Property ,
Tenants
The CFPB announced last week that it has entered into a consent order with Commonwealth Financial Systems, Inc. (Commonwealth), a third-party debt collection company that collects past-due medical debts and furnishes...more
12/20/2023
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Debt Collection ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Medical Debt ,
Regulation V
Joining every other circuit to address the same issue, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently ruled that a consumer does not have to prove actual damages to recover statutory damages for willful...more
11/17/2023
/ Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Credit Reports ,
Damages ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
Experian ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FRCP 23 ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Statutory Damages ,
Summary Judgment
The CFPB and FTC announced last week that they had entered into a settlement with Trans Union LLC (TU LLC) to resolve a lawsuit filed jointly in a Colorado federal district court by the agencies alleging that TU LLC and its...more
10/18/2023
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Reports ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FTC Act ,
Screening Procedures ,
Settlement ,
Statutory Violations ,
TransUnion
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) have filed a joint amicus brief in which they urge the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reverse the decision of a New...more
10/10/2023
/ 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
The CFPB has issued a request for information about business models that collect and sell consumer data, such as data brokers, data aggregators, and platforms. The RFI is intended to provide the CFPB with insight into the...more
The CFPB issued a new report, “Market Snapshot: An Update on Third-Party Debt Collections Tradelines Reporting,” that looks at trends in credit reporting of debt in collections from 2018 to 2022. It also published a new blog...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently ruled that a plaintiff who alleged that Experian had violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by including a discharged student loan debt on his credit report had not...more
The CFPB has issued its “Annual report of credit and consumer reporting complaints” that reports on consumer complaints submitted to the CFPB regarding the three largest nationwide consumer reporting agencies (NCRAs)—Equifax,...more
The CFPB recently released two reports concerning tenant background checks. One report, “Consumer Snapshot: Tenant Background Checks,” discusses consumer complaints received by the CFPB that relate to tenant screening by...more
The CFPB has issued a circular (2022-07) to address “shoddy investigation practices” and “affirm that neither consumer reporting companies nor information furnishers can skirt dispute investigation requirements.”...more
In a blog post published last week, the CFPB looked at the connection between eligibility for financial assistance under policies mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and medical collections. The ACA requires nonprofit...more
The CFPB announced last week that it has entered into a settlement with Hyundai Capital America (Hyundai) to resolve alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Regulation V arising from Hyundai’s reporting of...more
In a new advisory opinion, the CFPB addresses the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s permissible purpose requirement as it applies to both consumer reporting agencies and users of consumer reports....more
The CFPB has issued an interpretive rule on the scope of the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s preemption provisions. The rule’s narrow reading of those provisions appears intended to encourage and support state legislative...more
Just a little more than a month after issuing a report taking aim at medical debt collections, the CFPB has issued a new report on “Medical billing and collection issues described in consumer complaints.”...more
A Pennsylvania district court has ruled that a company that provides reports based on a search of public records is a “consumer reporting agency” (CRA) as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act....more
A new CFPB report titled “Medical Debt Burden in the United States,” takes aim at medical debt collections, with the CFPB indicating that it intends to “[d]etermine whether policies should be implemented to eliminate unpaid...more
The CFPB’s new annual report of credit and consumer reporting complaints, required by Section 611(e) of the FCRA, criticizes the three largest nationwide consumer reporting agencies (NCRAs) for allegedly failing to meet their...more
The CFPB recently published a new report, “Disputes on Consumer Credit Reports.” Using data on auto loan, student loan, general purpose credit card, and retail card accounts opened between 2012 and 2019, the report looks at...more
The CFPB has issued “Supervisory Highlights COVID-19 Prioritized Assessments Special Edition.”
The report indicates that in May 2020, the Bureau rescheduled about half of its planned examinations and instead conducted...more
1/29/2021
/ Automotive Loans ,
CARES Act ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Credit Cards ,
Credit Reports ,
Debt Collection ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Forbearance Agreements ,
Loan Servicing ,
Student Loans