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
On February 11, a group of Florida retainers, including a jewelry store and hobby shop, filed an appeal before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals that, in part, challenges Florida’s law prohibiting merchants from charging “swipe fees” on credit card sales. According to the retailers, the state law is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment
On February 3, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asked a federal district court to enter a consent order that would permanently ban a Texas company, Union Workers Credit Service, from offering any credit products or services after it duped thousands of consumers into signing up for a sham credit card. The CFPB claims that
The plaintiffs in a putative class action accusing The Container Store Inc. of retaining the ZIP codes of credit card-paying customers have asked a Massachusetts federal judge to grant final approval to a class action settlement.
Plaintiffs and class representative Judith Monteferrante sued the chain in June 2013, alleging it illegally requested and kept the
New rules on overdraft protections and fees are one of the top items on the CFPB regulatory agenda this year. In its Fall 2014 Rulemaking Agenda, the CFPB noted that they were “continuing to research overdraft services and considering whether rules governing overdraft and related services are warranted and what such rules may be”
On January 20, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a challenge by retailers to the Federal Reserve’s controversial rules for debit card “swipe fees,” effectively ending their fight over the Dodd-Frank Act’s Durbin amendment. The court’s rejection of the appeal means a March 2014 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
On January 7, online retailer Zappos.com Inc. reached a long-awaited settlement with nine states over a 2012 data breach that compromised personal and financial information of nearly 24 million of the company’s customers. Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said in a published statement that a hacker was able to access sensitive data pertaining to millions
On December 31, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in dismissing a class action appeal as moot, ruled that the putative class representative had not retained a personal stake in the class certification motion after voluntarily settling his individual claims.
In Campion v. Old Republic Protection Company, Inc., the plaintiff
On December 29, a putative class action was filed against Airgas, Inc. for printing expiration dates on credit and debit card receipts. The putative class action, Aliano et al. v. Airgas USA LLC et al., Case No. 14CH20024 (Cook County), alleges violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and identity theft. Airgas is an
On December 17, 2014, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued Union Workers Credit Services, a Dallas-based company that allegedly deceived consumers into purchasing a sham credit card with a membership fee. The CFPB’s complaint charges the company with falsely advertising a general-use credit card that, in actuality, could only be used to buy products