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Dear Mary,

One of our employees recently fell victim to a phishing attack, allowing unauthorized access to their email account for a brief period. To be safe, we reset everyone’s passwords and terminated all active sessions. We’re now in the process of hiring a law firm to determine if we need to notify anyone about the incident. It’s taking a little longer to get them engaged, but I’m hoping to have this done soon. In the meantime, is there anything else we should be considering?

– Not Entirely Clueless in Connecticut

On July 1, amendments to Florida’s Consumer Finance Act took effect. Among other things, the amendments raise the maximum tiered interest rates on consumer finance loans, increase the grace period before late fees can be imposed from 10 to 12 days, require licensees to offer free credit education courses to borrowers at the time a loan is made, provide for the suspension of certain collection activities in the event of a disaster, and require branches of businesses making consumer finance loans to obtain a license.

Both houses of the New Jersey Legislature recently passed Assembly Bill No. 3861 (AB 3861), known as the Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act. The legislation’s stated aims are to prevent undue financial hardship and protect patients from aggressive debt collection practices. Medical debt in general and how and whether it can be included in consumer reports has been a hot topic at the state and federal level. We have written on recent developments regarding medical debt here, here, here, and here.

A U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri recently dismissed a lawsuit under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA), finding that two letters sent to the plaintiffs’ attorney did not constitute harassment or abuse under 15 U.S.C. § 1692d.

On July 2, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) published the summer edition of its Supervisory Highlights, focusing on examinations of auto and student loan servicing companies and debt collectors that were completed between April 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023. The report also highlights consumer complaints about medical payment products and identifies concerns with financial institutions freezing deposit accounts.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo overruling the Chevron doctrine. This decision marks a watershed moment in administrative law, fundamentally altering the landscape for judicial review of agency actions under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

On April 17, 2024, Virginia enacted HB 1519 taking a significant step towards amending the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (VCPA) to prohibit creditors from charging fees for accepting electronic payments in connection with credit transactions in Virginia. However, this amendment will not become effective unless the Virginia General Assembly reenacts the bill in 2025. Between now and then, the Virginia State Corporation Commission will assess this change and report its findings to the General Assembly by December of this year.