On July 11, the Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing entitled “Who’s Keeping Score? Holding Credit Bureaus Accountable and Repairing a Broken System.” The hearing involved a series of bills that would potentially reform the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The proposed bills, which were advanced on a party-line vote
On June 21, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted a temporary restraining order to the Federal Trade Commission to stop the operations of Grand Teton Professionals, a credit repair company. The FTC previously filed a complaint against Grand Teton and related entities, including its owners in their individual capacities – alleging
On May 21, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had settled charges against payment processor Allied Wallet along with its CEO and owner, Ahmad Khawaja, and two other officers – Mohammad Diab and Amy Rountree. The charges stemmed from the FTC’s claim that the defendants knowingly processed payments for merchants that were engaged in
On April 11, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim of the Northern District of California issued a two-page order vacating judgment and final approval of a class action settlement based upon the parties’ failure to send correct notices to more than 300 class members. See Tyler Smith et al. v. Pacific Personnel Services Inc., No.
On April 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that the definition of “conviction” under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. 1681, et seq, should be interpreted under federal law, not the law of the state where the criminal record is generated. See Aldaco v. RentGrow, Inc.,
On February 22, the Federal Trade Commission published a final decision in its investigation and enforcement action against online lender Social Finance, Inc. (“SoFi”). The action concerned the FTC’s allegation that SoFi made false statements in its advertising regarding the amount student loan borrowers could save by refinancing with SoFi.
According to the FTC, SoFi
On March 11, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California approved a settlement stipulation between the parties in the long-running Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation involving Spokeo, Inc. See Thomas Robins v. Spokeo, Inc., Case No. 2:10-cv-05306 (C.D. Cal.). The settlement brings an end to the dispute that led to the
On February 13, the Federal Trade Commission issued its annual report for fiscal year 2018 and announced that enforcement actions from July 2017 through June 2018 yielded more than $2.3 billion in refunds to allegedly defrauded U.S. consumers. To put the total sum in perspective, the $2.3 billion figure was almost eight times the FTC’s
2018 was a busy year in the consumer financial services world. As we navigate the continuing heavy volume of regulatory change and forthcoming developments from the Trump administration, Troutman Sanders is uniquely positioned to help its clients successfully resolve problems and stay ahead of the compliance curve.
In this report, we share developments on
On January 16, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan denied a motion to dismiss a plaintiff’s Fair Credit Reporting Act claims on statute of limitations grounds, taking a strict interpretation of the complaint’s allegations as to the plaintiff’s discovery of facts underlying her claims. A copy of the decision in Blake