The Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Protection (“GOCP”) issued a statement on March 5, announcing a $13 million settlement with RSB Equity Group, LLC (“RSB”) and its principal, Roy Mullman.  The settlement resolved charges that the company committed multiple violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act.  More…

On February 25, the Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”), Benjamin M. Lawsky, spoke at Columbia Law School regarding the increased role of states as regulators, especially in the case of emerging risks such as cybersecurity.  The speech, titled “Financial Federalism: The Catalytic Role of State Regulators in a Post-Financial Crisis…

On March 3, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in Stalley v. ADS Alliance Data Systems, Inc., No. 14-10872, held that a servicer of credit card accounts did not violate the Florida Security Communications Act (FSCA) when it recorded conversations with consumers in the ordinary course of business without the consent of all parties.

In…

Ten state attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission this month announced that they had secured consent judgments against a number of companies that had engaged in a telemarketing campaign involving billions of robocalls.

The regulators alleged that the robocalls incorporated sales pitches for cruise vacations with political surveys.

Although political surveys are not barred…

On February 27, the White House proposed a bill that would provide consumers with a “Privacy Bill of Rights” as well as provide an enforcement mechanism for data breach enforcement actions by the FTC and state attorneys general.  The language used is similar to a proposal by the administration in 2012 which failed to gain…

We reported earlier this month that the Federal Housing Authority recently provided an option for reverse-mortgage lenders to allow eligible surviving non-borrowing spouses to remain in their homes after the death of their borrowing spouses.  According to a report recently released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it appears that this option became necessary due…

On February 19, Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, addressed the agency’s Consumer Advisory Board.  In this speech, he highlighted the CFPB’s ongoing oversight of the credit reporting industry.  He noted first that the three biggest credit reporting agencies maintain files on over 200 million consumers.  These credit reports and scores…

Use of criminal background checks requires compliance with the technical requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act  and has spawned a large number of class actions and individual claims under the FCRA.  However, use of background checks has also been under siege by the states and localities that have been enacting “ban the box” requirements…

Through March 2, 2015, the State of Maryland is accepting comments on its proposed regulations of mortgage servicing transfers that include over 5,000 mortgages, whether as a single transfer or as a total at the end of a calendar year even if no single transfer was for 5,000 or more loans.  Although many of the…

A recent decision of the Northern District of Ohio, Vantu v. Echo Recovery, L.L.C., held that a repossession agency, while generally not subject to liability under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, becomes subject to such liability when it undertakes to repossess collateral that it does not have a present right to possess.

This case…