On September 29, the Eleventh Circuit issued its highly anticipated decision in Mais v. Gulf Coast Collection Bureau, Inc., overturning the district court’s prior holding and providing defense-favorable law on prior express consent. The decision was in response to an unprecedented May 2013 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
Alan D. Wingfield
Federal Court Affirms Debt Collector’s Right to Collect Pre-Judgment Statutory Interest After Charge-Off by Original Creditor
On September 18, in Peters v. Financial Recovery Services, Inc., the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri held that neither the federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA) nor the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibit a debt collector from charging state statutory pre-judgment interest after charge-off. In reaching that…
Auto Finance Summit 2014 – October 6-8 – Las Vegas
The annual Auto Finance Summit is quickly approaching and their roster and agenda look superb. AutoFinanceSummit.com describes this year’s event:
“Sharing insights and innovations make it more than the industry’s premier event, it’s your annual opportunity to meet, network and learn from the best. This conference has grown into the “can’t miss” event of the
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CFPB Conducts Field Hearing on Indirect Auto Lending
As we previously discussed here, on September 18 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau conducted a field hearing in Indianapolis. Aside from opening remarks from CFPB Director Richard Cordray himself, the hearing also consisted of a panel discussion of industry participants (including representatives from the NADA, the Consumer Bankers’ Association, and the American Financial Services…
Whitepaper Issued by CFPB in Defense of its Use of “Proxy” Statistical Methods to Prove Unlawful Credit Discrimination
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, under fire from both industry and Congressional constituencies for using unexplained statistical methodologies to reach conclusions that auto lenders have engaged in unlawful credit discrimination, issued a report on September 17 that provided details of its methodologies and argued for their validity.
The CFPB and other federal regulators have generally…
Special CFPB Supervisory Report Reflects Continuing Agenda to Reform Indirect Auto Lending Industry
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, through its announcement on September 17 of the “larger participant” rule for auto lenders, has made clear that it intends to tighten its regulatory grip on the auto lending industry in the United States. In a separate special “Supervisory Highlights” report, also issued on September 17,…
CFPB Proposes Regulations Defining Larger Participants in Auto Finance Market
On September 17, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued proposed regulations that amend the CFPB’s existing regulations defining “larger participants” of consumer financial products it supervises by adding a new section to define larger participants of a market for automobile financing. The CFPB explains that the approximately 38 nonbank larger participants that would be captured…
Cordray to Speak at CFPB’s Auto Finance Field Hearing on September 18
The CFPB recently announced via blog post that it will hold a “field hearing” on auto finance in Indianapolis on September 18 at 11:00AM. The announcement indicates that additional details will follow, but that the hearing will include remarks from CFPB Director Richard Cordray, and that consumer groups, industry representatives, and the public are invited…
Plaintiffs Alleging TCPA and FDCPA Claims May Be Able to Circumvent Arbitration Where Calls Were Intended for an Unrelated Third Party
In Porter v. Dollar Financial Group, Inc., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 122865, a Northern District of California court denied the defendant’s motion to compel arbitration based on the plaintiff’s allegation that the debt collection calls at issue were intended for a third party, and thus were not related to the contract containing the arbitration…
Contracting and Text Sending is Sufficient for Exercise of Personal Jurisdiction in TCPA Class Action
In Payton v. Kale Realty, LLC, plaintiff Payton filed an amended complaint, asserting that defendant Kale used newly added defendant Voiceshot’s services to send unsolicited advertisements to potential customers’ cell phones. Voiceshot provides web-based cloud telecommunication services by which users can send mass text messages for a fee. Voiceshot is a Delaware company with…