On February 23, legislation was introduced in the West Virginia Senate to amend the state’s Consumer Credit Protection Act. Senate Bill 542 would revise sections 46A-2-121, -122, -125, -126, and -128, sections 46A-5-101 and -106, and add new section 46A-5-107.
Among these proposed changes, the Bill seeks to:
On February 19, 2015, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued guidance in the form of FAQs on its recently-enacted debt collection regulation (23 NYCRR 1). The guidance came in response to calls from many significant players in the debt collection industry – including ACA International – to explain certain groundbreaking aspects of
In a class action settlement that was recently granted final approval, Publix Super Markets Inc. agreed to pay nearly $6.8 million in a class action lawsuit settlement over background checks under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Plaintiff, Erin Knights, applied for a job with Publix in early 2013 through an electronic kiosk. The lawsuit alleges
On February 11, a federal court in Texas dismissed a putative Fair Credit Reporting Act class action filed by a former patient of health services provider St. Joseph Services Corp. who alleged that the defendant’s failure to guard against a personal data breach violated the FCRA. After reviewing the state of the law regarding standing
Since its creation in 2009, the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (“HECM”) reverse mortgage program created by the Federal Housing Authority has helped numerous senior citizens stay in their homes by allowing them to convert the equity in their home into useable funds instead of having to sell their homes to supplement their retirement income or
On January 16, 2014, Troutman Sanders secured a victory for client Paris Baguette America, Inc. when District Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed with prejudice a putative class action alleging that Paris Baguette willfully violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act by printing
On January 13, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a report on consumers’ mortgage shopping experiences. The CFPB found that almost half of consumers who take out a mortgage fail to shop prior to application and that consumers seriously consider only a single lender or mortgage broker before choosing where to apply. The
Freddie Mac is selling three pools of deeply delinquent loans with the combined unpaid principal balance of $410 million. According to Freddie Mac’s spokesman, the loans involved in the sale include “a large share that are more than two years delinquent,” which is consistent with Freddie Mac’s “continued goal of reducing illiquid assets from its
A new putative class action lodged in California federal court against Paramount Pictures Corporation made it the latest employer to be accused of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by obtaining credit reports from current and prospective employees without adequate disclosure of their rights under the FCRA. The lawsuit alleges that the company has a
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently announced its first enforcement action for alleged violations of the new requirements imposed upon mortgage servicers regarding loss mitigation applications submitted by borrowers. According to the CFPB, Michigan-based Flagstar Bank took too long to process borrowers’ applications for relief from foreclosure, improperly denied loss mitigation applications, and made