A federal bankruptcy court for the Southern District of Florida has ruled that the owner of a computer-financing scheme cannot hide behind a bankruptcy filing to shield himself from complying with a contempt order that required him to pay $13.4 million for violating an FTC order.
Joseph K. Rensin founded BlueHippo Funding, LLC and its
Two words could put a new burden on debt collectors in Florida. On February 14, Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Fla.) introduced Senate Bill 1034, which proposes a change to Florida Statute § 559.715. That section currently requires the assignee of the “right to bill and collect a consumer debt” to “give the debtor written
The Supreme Court agreed to hear a consumer’s appeal from the Third Circuit’s ruling that his claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act were time-barred despite being brought within one year of discovering the violation. The circuits have been split on whether the one-year statute of limitations under the FDCPA begins to run when
Student loan debt in the United States has reached over $1.53 trillion – a figure the Federal Reserve suggested is discouraging young people from buying homes. While that number continues to rise, some in Congress have taken notice of its consequences and seek to implement changes in repayment options to provide desperately needed
On February 22, 2019, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued a precedential ruling affirming a district court’s finding that Crown Asset Management LLC is a debt collector under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. In doing so, the Third Circuit interpreted the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Henson v. Santander, Consumer USA Inc., 137
A federal court in Pennsylvania recently awarded summary judgment in favor of a consumer who brought a suit under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act against a collection agency. The plaintiff alleged, and the Court agreed, that the collection letter misleadingly indicated that a dispute could be made by phone, despite the letter’s inclusion of
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
On February 20, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a compliance guide for small entities that summarizes payment-related provisions of the Payday Lending Rule.
The Payday Lending Rule governs payday loans, vehicle tile loans, and certain high-cost installment loans. The Guide focuses on the payment provisions of the Payday Lending rule, found in Subpart C
On February 22, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss in a Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (“DPPA”) putative class action, holding that the DPPA does not provide a private right of action against state officials in their official capacities. A copy
A group of 21 states and the District of Columbia submitted a comment letter opposing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s effort to revise and boost its Policy on No-Action Letters (“NAL Policy”) and the creation of a CFPB Product Sandbox. The NAL Policy and Product Sandbox will allow companies