Photo of David M. Gettings

Dave is a partner of the firm who focuses on defending clients in consumer class actions and complex commercial litigation nationwide, particularly cases involving a variety of federal and state laws and regulations, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and associated FCC regulations, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and many similar state consumer protection statutes.

2019 was a transformative year for the consumer financial services world. As we navigate an unprecedented volume of industry regulation, Troutman Sanders is uniquely positioned to help its clients find successful resolutions and stay ahead of the compliance curve.

In this report, we share developments on consumer class actions, background screening, bankruptcy, consumer credit

Recently, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its Supervisory Highlights, No. 21 (Winter 2020) (“the Report”). The Report discusses findings related to many of the CFPB’s examinations regarding debt collection, mortgage servicing, payday lending, and student loan servicing that were completed between April and August 2019.

Key takeaways from the Report are as follows:

Debt

A recent Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case in Michigan illustrates the importance of attention to detail when operating in a heavily regulated business space such as debt collection. The case is Loewe v. Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., L.P.A., from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. You can

On January 27, Judge Pamela K. Chen of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York denied a defendant debt collector’s motion to dismiss. Plaintiff Olga Madorskaya filed a lawsuit, individually and on behalf of a class, against Frontline Asset Strategies, LLC, claiming that a debt collection notice misrepresented the amount

On January 29, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Comprehensive Credit Act (“the Act”). Packaging several Democrat-sponsored bills together, the Act garnered the support of all but two of the present House Democrats. If enacted into law, the Act would significantly change the information that credit reports can contain, expand the processes available

This month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Education entered into a Memorandum of Understanding intended to enhance their level of collaboration with respect to complaints and concerns raised by student loan consumers.

The agreement provides that the two federal agencies will, to the extent permitted by privacy laws, share consumer complaint

Any company that uses telephony systems for outreach to consumers got important and potentially good news on January 27, 2020, when the Eleventh Circuit released its much-anticipated opinion in Glasser v. Hilton Grand Vacations Company, LLC, No. 18-14499.  The court held that a phone system must use randomly or sequentially generated numbers to qualify

In Flecha v. Medicredit, Inc., the Fifth Circuit decertified a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act letter class and noted that the putative class “present[ed] substantial questions of Article III standing.” In doing so, the Fifth Circuit became part of a growing trend of circuit courts that are raising significant questions as to whether a

A New York bankruptcy court recently allowed a pro se debtor to discharge over $200,000 in student loan debt, vehemently rejecting as “punitive” more recent legal authority concerning how student loan debts may be discharged in bankruptcy.

Debtor Kevin Jared Rosenberg, a New York law school graduate earning approximately $37,000 annually, filed for Chapter 7