This past November, the Department of Veterans Affairs (the “VA”) and the Federal Trade Commission signed an updated Memorandum of Agreement, which pledges ongoing efforts in the oversight and enforcement of laws pertaining to the advertising, sales, and enrollment practices of institutions of higher learning and other establishments that offer training for military education benefits
A wave of lawsuits filed under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, especially in the Second Circuit, continues regarding disclosures of interest and fees in collection letters. Consumers have complained about failure to warn of interest and fees continuing to accrue, as well as failure to disclose that interest and fees did not accrue. The
On November 27, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a second putative Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action on the grounds that the American Pipe tolling principles did not apply, meaning the plaintiff’s claims on behalf of himself, his company, and the purported class were untimely.
In Weitzner v.
Last month, Troutman Sanders reported on the proposed TRACED Act which would instruct the Federal Communications Commission to engage in rulemaking to protect consumers from receiving unwanted calls and text messages from unauthenticated phone numbers. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai tweeted his approval for the bill, but the FCC is not waiting on Congress to fight
On November 15, Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) announced the Small Business Credit Protection Act – proposed legislation that would require consumer reporting agencies to inform small businesses of a nonpublic personal data breach within 30 days of the breach. If passed, the SBCPA also would prohibit credit bureaus from charging small
The Eastern District of Wisconsin issued a ruling dismissing an Equal Credit Opportunity Act case that asserted a novel claim regarding discrimination by a lender in requiring that the applicant remove disputes from his credit score before reviewing his application for a home equity loan. In Kolodzinski v. Pentagon Federal Credit Union, the Court
In an ominous sign, Americans’ total debt hit another record high, rising to $13.5 trillion in the last quarter, as student loan delinquencies jumped, according to Reuters. Specifically, flows of student debt into serious delinquency – of 90 or more days – rose to 9.1 percent in the third quarter from 8.6 percent in
On November 16, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the current chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the committee and the author of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, unveiled the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (“TRACED Act”). Among other things, this bill would require carriers to eventually
On October 23, the Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General sued multiple New York debt collection companies for using false and deceptive tactics to collect on debts. On October 26, the United States District Court for the Western District of New York granted a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) prohibiting the defendants from
On October 26, the Eastern District of Wisconsin issued a ruling dismissing a Fair Credit Reporting Act case. In Garland v. Marine Credit Union, the Court granted summary judgment in favor of the debt collector, holding the dispute was a legal issue such that the consumer could not establish a factual inaccuracy in the