On April 11, the White House published a fact sheet, outlining the Biden administration’s actions to lessen the burden of medical debt and increase consumer protection. The plan includes four focus areas:
On April 12, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a blog post titled “Busting myths about bankruptcy and private student loans.” In the blog post, the CFPB argues that certain private education loans can be discharged in bankruptcy. Specifically, the CFPB argues that the following private student loans can be discharged without
On April 7, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) issued a request for comment on proposed amendments to the regulation implementing the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), intended to assist consumers who are survivors of human trafficking. The proposed amendments would prohibit consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) from reporting adverse information resulting from certain types
On March 18, the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion (NCRAs) — announced plans to change how medical debt will be reported on credit reports. The joint measures will result in the removal of nearly 70% of medical collection debt records from credit reports.
The announcement included the following three major
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, has introduced the Arbitration Fairness for Consumers Act. The legislation, introduced on March 7, proposes to amend Title X of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to prohibit pre-dispute arbitration agreements and class-action waivers in contracts
*Garrett Kelly is not licensed to practice law in any jurisdiction; his bar application is pending in Virginia.
On March 1, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its “Medical Debt Burden in the United States” report, which questions whether consumer credit reports should include unpaid medical billing data.
According to the
On February 28, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued a bulletin and accompanying press release, highlighting an issue that the agency has written about frequently over the past several years: inadvertent repossessions. For the most part, the bulletin reminds the industry of guidance previously issued by the CFPB in several editions
On February 23, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an outline of proposals and alternatives (Outline) under consideration related to an automated valuation model (AVM) rulemaking. Despite the lack of imminency on a final rule, the Outline serves as further proof that fair lending and its application to algorithmic systems is a top priority
In late January, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its 2022 “List of Consumer Reporting Companies.” This list purports to give consumers “the details [they] need to take action” against companies that collect consumer information and prepare consumer reports. According to the CFPB’s accompanying press release, the list is intended to
The filing lawsuits under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) increased dramatically in the first month of 2022 when compared to the number of filings in January and December 2021, per a report released recently by Web Recon LLC. The number