Year in Review and a Look Ahead: Navigating the Debt Collection Landscape — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: Recent Federal and State Debt Collection Developments
Keeping Up With the Bureau Episode 4: Hot Topics in Collections: Fees, Reg F Landscape, and What’s Next - The Consumer Finance Podcast
Fair Lending 101 for Debt Collectors - The Consumer Finance Podcast
Credit Eco to Go Podcast: Demystifying the Debt Collection Rule
Dancing to Their Own Tune: Empowering Consumers Through Self-Service
Can My Creditors Put me In Jail?
20 Things a Debt Collector Can't Do
5 Reasons Consumers Should File an FDCPA Lawsuit
Why You Should Enter into a Payment Plan with a Junk Debt Buyer
Beginners Guide to Debt Collection Lawsuits by Portfolio Recovery Associates
Quick Guide to Stopping Collection Calls.
3 Proven Strategies for Dealing with a Midland Funding Lawsuit
The TCPA: Basics, Targeted Industries, and Trends
Can I collect my judgment if the other side is appealing?
On September 5, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its annual report on debt collection, drawing attention to a range of activities with respect to medical and rental debt collection that the CFPB...more
On September 9, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada granted summary judgment in favor of a debt collector in a case involving alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the...more
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
On July 22, the Governor of New Jersey signed into law A 3861 (the “Act), also known as the Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act, which codified the protection of consumers from “predatory medical debt collectors,” including...more
To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal and state events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week...more
On May 16, the Illinois legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 2933. The bill amends the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act making it unlawful for a consumer reporting agency (CRA) to create a consumer...more
On May 9, the Governor of Connecticut approved SB 395 (the “Act”) banning health care providers from reporting medical debt to credit rating agencies. Further, the Act will prohibit hospitals and collection agents from...more
On April 29, the CFPB released a report entitled “Recent Changes in Medical Collections on Consumer Credit Records” that showed that as of June 2023 some 15 million Americans (approximately five percent) still have medical...more
On April 15, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the Commerce Policy Omnibus bill, which includes key provisions of the Minnesota Debt Fairness Act. Minnesota AG Keith Ellison supports this bill and celebrated its...more
On April 11, the General Counsel of the CFPB, Seth Frotman, delivered a speech at the National Consumer Law Center/National Association of Consumer Advocates Spring Training, highlighting how the FDCPA and the FCRA cover...more
On March 19, the Washington State Attorney General (AG) obtained an order from the King County Superior Court providing that a debt collection agency must pay civil penalties for allegedly failing to comply with the...more
Washington AG Bob Ferguson has secured a court order imposing civil penalties on Optimum Outcomes, Inc. for the debt collection agency’s alleged failure to comply with the state’s Consumer Protection Act when it collected...more
In this article, we share a timeline of our monthly "bites" for 2023 applicable to debt collection. If debt collection in 2023 had a theme it would be medical debt....more
On December 26, 2023, the Court of Appeals of the State of Washington overturned a ruling in favor of a collection agency. In the initial action, the collection agency sued an individual over a medical debt that was assigned...more
Colorado and New York are not waiting for the Fair Credit Reporting Act rulemaking to eliminate creditor use of medical debt announced by the CFPB in September 2023. As we previously blogged, in the past two years, Equifax,...more
The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on medical debt has spurred the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into action, particularly as it relates to the credit reporting of medical debt. Since 2020, the CFPB has received a steadily...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
On December 15, 2023, the CFPB announced that it entered into a consent order with a medical debt collector resolving allegations that the debt collector tried to collect unverified medical debts after consumers disputed...more
On November 16, the CFPB released its annual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act report, which highlighted challenges specific to medical debt collection. For example, 8,500 complaints were submitted in 2022 related to medical...more
Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its 2023 Annual Report on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which notes the CFPB’s activities and observations related to debt collection in...more
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
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
New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (NYC DCWP) recently released a notice of proposed amendments to its debt collection rules. The proposed amendments are detailed, lengthy, and include expanded...more
Over the last year and a half, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has become increasingly interested in the origination, servicing, and collection of medical debt. The CFPB alone has published several pieces of...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is moving forward with a rulemaking proposal to change the process of reporting medical debt on consumer credit reports. Specifically, the rulemaking proposal the Bureau...more