The Third Circuit recently applied the D.C. Circuit’s decision in ACA International v. FCC and granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act claim.  The Court held in Dominguez v. Yahoo, Inc. that Yahoo’s Email SMS Service was not an automatic telephone dialing system (or “ATDS”) because it…

As designed and envisioned, student loan ombudsmen are government officials tasked with helping borrowers struggling with repaying their student loans.  Among other varied means, they are designed to protect consumers from unfair debt collection practices and help them understand their repayment options. In recent years, a growing number of jurisdictions, including Connecticut, Illinois, and the …

This past May, alums of a for-profit program run by the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges, Inc. won a stunning, albeit temporary and partial, victory against the Department of Education: the grant of their motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction by a magistrate judge sitting on the United States District Court for …

Reverse Mortgage Solutions, Inc. (“RMS”), a leading servicer of home equity conversion mortgages, commonly known as reverse mortgages, recently received a complete defense verdict in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, in a trial presided over by Judge Irene Berger. The case arose out of a reverse mortgage entered…

President Donald Trump announced this morning that he plans to nominate Kathy Kraninger, associate director of the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”), to become the new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), replacing Mick Mulvaney.

The announcement came as a surprise to many because Kraninger’s name was not among those that had…

The Federal Trade Commission recently reached a settlement agreement with a Los Angeles-based company purporting to offer student loan debt relief services for alleged violations of the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

The FTC filed a complaint against defendants Salar Tahour and his companies, M&T Financial Group and American Counseling Center Corp., as…

On June 11, St. Louis County officials signed an executive order, effective immediately, that would “ban the box” and ensure that St. Louis County will no longer ask job applicants for criminal histories in their initial employment applications.  Other jurisdictions in Missouri with ban-the-box laws include Jackson County, Columbia, and Kansas City.

“A parolee’s failure…

On May 22, Vermont passed the nation’s most expansive data broker legislation in an effort to provide consumers with more information about data brokers, their data collection practices, and consumers’ right to opt out.

The legislation, which in part takes effect on January 1, 2019, defines “data brokers” to mean “a business … that knowingly…

In mid-May 2018, per multiple reports, John Michael “Mick” Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced plans to fold the CFPB’s Office of Students and Young Consumers into its preexisting Office of Financial Education, itself a part of this agency’s Consumer Education and Engagement Division. During this reorganization, the…