On July 28, at a public hearing in Sacramento, California, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released an outline of new rules targeting third-party debt-collection operations. The new rules seek to curb “excessive or disruptive” communication by restricting collectors from calling debtors numerous times a day, require debt collection companies to have “more and better
The FTC recently approved increases to the maximum civil penalty amounts available for violations of statutes subject to FTC enforcement. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015 authorizes increases affecting sixteen statutes under FTC enforcement authority.
The amended maximums take effect August 1, 2016.
New maximum civil penalties for the following violations will
A recently introduced House bill would provide a mechanism to let states opt out of the CFPB’s newly announced rules regulating payday, auto title, and other short-term, small dollar loans. On June 21, Congressman Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) introduced H.B. 5552 which would effectively amend the CFPB’s recently proposed rules. If passed,
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Florida have settled charges against Vast Tech Support LLC, OMG Tech Help, their founder and COO Mark Donohue, and related companies regarding claims of deceptive marketing of computer software and tech support services. The settlement continues the FTC’s trend of enforcement actions that target scammers who scare consumers into
In a case that looks at the statutory bounds of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s investigative authority, the CFPB announced that it plans to appeal a federal district court decision denying the agency’s request to enforce a civil investigative demand, or “CID”.
In August 2015, the CFPB issued a CID to the Accrediting Council for
On June 9, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed a lawsuit against Your Magazine Service, Inc., a Minnesota corporation, and the corporation’s owner, Wayne R. Dahl, Jr., alleging that the company used deceptive sales tactics to sign up customers for magazine subscriptions.
According to the suit, the company would call individuals who had purchased
The Federal Trade Commission, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania have added three new defendants and new charges in a case pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleging that the defendants deceived consumers into buying unneeded tech support services. According to the amended complaint, the defendants allegedly pretended to represent
Twice a year, federal agencies must update and release their regulatory agendas for the current year. The agendas track agency actions through the phases of federal rulemaking, which often takes months (if not years), and provide insight into an agency’s plans. On May 18, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its Spring 2016 rulemaking agenda.
On May 16, 2016, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled that private attorneys hired by states to collect back taxes and other debts did not mislead investors by sending collection letters to borrowers using the state Attorney General’s letterhead. The Court found that the attorneys were acting as agents of the Attorney General and, therefore,
On May 9, the Federal Trade Commission announced that the debt collection agency Credit Protection Association will pay $72,000 to settle charges that the company violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). This case is part of “Operation Collection Protection,” a program the FTC describes as “an ongoing federal, state and