The District of Columbia’s Medical Debt Mitigation Amendment Act of 2026 is now law, even without the mayor’s blessing. According to a post by Accounts Recovery, Mayor Muriel Bowser returned Bill 26-0438 to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson unsigned, but the bill passed into law automatically upon her refusal to sign it.
In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, host Chris Willis sits down with Partners Joseph DeFazio and Joseph Froehlich to discuss the New Jersey Supreme Court’s ruling in Diana, a unanimous ruling and long-awaited victory for debt buyers operating in New Jersey. At the center of the conversation is a high-volume litigation campaign waged by the Kim Law Firm, which targeted the chain of title for consumer debts under the New Jersey Consumer Finance Licensing Act (NJCFLA). Kim’s core theory argued that any consumer debt under $50,000 — including personal loans, auto loans, and retail credit — that was ever touched, transferred, or assigned by an unlicensed entity is void and unenforceable as a matter of law, and that any attempt to collect on such a debt independently triggers statutory liability.
As we previously discussed here, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) delayed the effective date of its amended debt collection regulations, known as the SHIELD Rule, from September 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027, to provide regulated entities additional time to make operational adjustments and to allow the agency to address outstanding questions from industry stakeholders.
On July 20, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed a $500,000 jury verdict against a debt collection furnisher, holding that a consumer cannot prevail on a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) unreasonable investigation claim without first demonstrating that the disputed information was “objectively and readily verifiable” as inaccurate. In Ward v. National Credit Systems, Inc., the court joined the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits in adopting this standard, resolving a previously open question in the Tenth Circuit and delivering an important victory for furnishers facing FCRA claims rooted in identity theft allegations.
It has been reported that the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) has pushed back the effective date of its amended debt collection regulations, known as the SHIELD Rule, from September 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027. The delay, which has not yet been confirmed on the DCWP’s official website, was announced to provide regulated entities additional time to make operational adjustments and to allow the agency to address outstanding questions from industry stakeholders.
On July 8, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Diana, delivering a decisive and long-awaited victory for debt buyers operating in New Jersey. The court’s ruling — affirming the dismissal of a putative class action brought by a borrower seeking to void his credit card debt — definitively closes the door on a theory of liability that has dogged the debt-buying industry in New Jersey for years.
The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) recently published new compliance resources for its amended debt collection regulations, known as the SHIELD Rule, which are scheduled to take effect on September 1, 2026.
On April 8, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed HB 444, the Uniform Consumer Debt Default Judgments Act, into law. The Act establishes pleading and notice requirements in certain consumer debt collection actions that must be met for a creditor to obtain a default judgment against a consumer. This Act is based on a model drafted by the Uniform Law Commission, similar versions of which have been enacted in Washington and introduced in Pennsylvania. HB 444 will take effect on July 1, 2027.
In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by Troutman Pepper Locke Partners Stefanie Jackman and Brent Hoard to take a close look at the world of medical debt collection. The discussion covers how HIPAA applies to medical debt, what it really means to be a “business associate,” and common privacy challenges that can turn routine collection efforts into regulatory headaches. They also focus on key federal and state debt collection regimes, including the FDCPA, the No Surprises Act, and increasingly complex credit reporting requirements. The group provides insight on collection strategies for health care providers and third-party collectors that are both compliant and workable in practice. For anyone handling medical-related receivables, this episode serves as a practical guide to safeguarding patient information, maintaining tax-exempt status, and enhancing collections while staying within regulatory boundaries.
In this joint episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, guest host Taylor Gess is joined by Stefanie Jackman to discuss amended debt collection regulations and restrictions for creditors, including tight communication limits and enhanced validation requirements. The conversation dives into the rise of coerced debt statutes, shortcomings of traditional identity theft frameworks, and how creditors should adjust training, intake, and escalation protocols to avoid reputational and legal risk. The discussion also explores state medical debt reporting bans, the preemption challenges, and cautious furnishing in the FCRA landscape.