On November 10, the Supreme Court declined to review an appeal by debt collection law firm Phelan Hallinan & Shmieg LLP over a Third Circuit decision in a class action that held that debtors are not required to dispute a debt under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act before filing an FDCPA lawsuit.
On June
On November 13, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled that a debt collector’s voicemail message did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act when it never mentioned that plaintiff owed a debt or conveyed any information about the debt, despite being overheard by the plaintiff’s son. In Zweigenhaft
On October 28, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued the latest edition of its “Supervisory Highlights” report, covering illegalities it discovered in the debt collection, student loan servicing, and mortgage collection markets between March and June 2014. Although the Bureau acknowledged increased efforts by covered entities to ensure regulatory compliance, the report nevertheless
At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court judge in Miami has temporarily shut down a fraudulent phantom debt collection operation that allegedly deceived Spanish-speaking consumers across the country.
On October 20, the FTC filed a complaint against Centro Natural Corp., Sumore LLC, and several individual defendants alleging that defendants illegally
On November 5, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a report detailing debt collection complaint statics received from older consumers between July 2013 and September 2014.
From a broader perspective, the CFPB reports that since September 2013, consumers of all ages have filed more complaints with the CFPB about debt collection than about any other
On October 28, the Deputy Comptroller for Supervision of Risk Management Darrin Benhart of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency discussed auto and home equity lending risks and consumer debt sales. A copy of his remarks, which were made before the Financial Services Collections and Credit Risk Conference, can be found here.
This year’s ACA International Fall Forum & Expo, to be held in San Francisco on November 5-7, is quickly approaching, and their roster and agenda look outstanding. ACA International describes this year’s event:
ACA brings you four cutting-edge tracks with the latest updates from industry experts. Twenty-eight concurrent sessions from thought-provoking speakers, twenty-five plus innovation
Earlier this month, the Fourth Circuit issued an unpublished opinion holding a debt collector’s autodialed calls to a residential landline with VoIP service violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act due to the fact that the consumer was charged for each call.
In Lynn v. Monarch Recovery Management, Inc., No. 13-2358, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS
In Alexander v. Coast Professional, Inc., No. 12-cv-1461, (E.D. Pa. Sept. 5, 2014), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania certified a class of Pennsylvania residents with defaulted student loans serviced by Coast Professional. The class action under the FDCPA is based on the allegations that Coast Professional failed to
On October 16, the Second Circuit in Nigro v. Mercantile Adjustment Bureau, LLC, ruled against a debt collector by holding that the agency violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when it repeatedly called the plaintiff about his deceased mother-in-law’s debt. Despite the plaintiff providing the number called to the creditor, the Court of Appeals