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
On October 29, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a long-awaited ruling in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case involving the disclosure of the amount due in a collection letter. In Derosa v. CAC Financial, the Court affirmed summary judgment in favor of the debt collector and held that, if a debt
On October 18, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington granted a motion to compel arbitration filed by student loan servicer Navient Solutions, LLC because the arbitration provision in the promissory note signed by the plaintiff was broad enough to capture future credit reporting disputes. The case is Howard v. Navient Solutions
Despite two controlling decisions by the Second Circuit in Avila and Taylor, claims involving the “amount of debt” disclosure under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) continue to evolve thanks to the relentless efforts by the New York plaintiffs’ bar. But these permutations of the “amount of debt” claims continue to be successfully
Citing Seventh Circuit precedent, the Eastern District of Wisconsin recently held the broad scope of the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s permissible purpose includes use that disregards an attempted restriction requested by the consumer.
In Long v. Bergstrom Victory Lane, Inc., No. 18-cv-688, 2018 WL 4829192 (E.D. Wis. Oct. 4, 2018), consumer Emily Long alleged
On August 16, Judge Freda L. Wolfson of the District of New Jersey ruled that a consumer plaintiff’s claim that insurance language overshadowed the required debt validation warning can proceed. In the case of Morello v. AR Resources, Inc., the named plaintiff Wayne Morello received a collection letter arising from a medical