The Federal Communications Commission will have to decide whether or how it will hold its January 30 monthly public meeting if the government shutdown lasts through the end of the month.
The Communications Act requires that “meetings of the commission shall be held at regular intervals, not less frequently once each calendar month,” and
The federal government shutdown continues and, in the wake of the President Donald Trump’s Oval Office address in support of the border wall, it appears that it could continue for some time. Press reports say approximately 800,000 federal workers are furloughed or working without pay. Consumer-facing companies are asking: What is the impact of the
Due to the U.S. Government partial shutdown, the Federal Trade Commission announced a temporary suspension of all of its investigations, including those into debt collection activities. As a result, the FTC has stated that its investigators cannot conduct normal fact-finding and attorneys cannot engage in settlement negotiations at this time. In particular, during the
This past November, the Department of Veterans Affairs (the “VA”) and the Federal Trade Commission signed an updated Memorandum of Agreement, which pledges ongoing efforts in the oversight and enforcement of laws pertaining to the advertising, sales, and enrollment practices of institutions of higher learning and other establishments that offer training for military education benefits
A Florida federal judge entered a judgment for over $23 million last week against Robert Guice, the alleged operator of a telemarketing scam offering debt relief services to consumers.
The lawsuit, brought by the Federal Trade Commission and the Florida Attorney General, alleged that Guice created Loyal Financial & Credit Services, LLC (“Loyal”), Life Management
On December 4, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it is seeking comment on whether the agency should make changes to rules requiring that financial institutions and creditors take certain steps to detect signs of identity theft that may affect their customers.
In a press release, the FTC stated that as part of its
Last month, Troutman Sanders reported on the proposed TRACED Act which would instruct the Federal Communications Commission to engage in rulemaking to protect consumers from receiving unwanted calls and text messages from unauthenticated phone numbers. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai tweeted his approval for the bill, but the FCC is not waiting on Congress to fight
In an ominous sign, Americans’ total debt hit another record high, rising to $13.5 trillion in the last quarter, as student loan delinquencies jumped, according to Reuters. Specifically, flows of student debt into serious delinquency – of 90 or more days – rose to 9.1 percent in the third quarter from 8.6 percent in
On November 16, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the current chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the committee and the author of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, unveiled the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (“TRACED Act”). Among other things, this bill would require carriers to eventually
The Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule requiring consumer reporting agencies to provide free credit monitoring service to active duty military members that would electronically notify these consumers of “material” changes to their file within 24 hours. The deadline to submit comments on the proposed rule is January 7, 2019.
The proposed rule implements the