On May 29, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a settlement with BSI Financial Services, a Texas-based mortgage servicer. Acting as a reminder to mortgage servicers of the importance of maintaining rigorous information management systems, the CFPB alleged BSI violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, and the
It is well settled that the purpose of filing a bankruptcy petition is to “give[] the honest but unfortunate debtor . . . a new opportunity in life and a clear field for future effort, unhampered by the pressure and discouragement of pre-existing debt.” Local Loan Co. v. Hunt, 292 U.S. 234,
On June 6, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved a declaratory ruling affirming that voice service providers may, as the default setting for phones, block robocalls. This aggressive position means that service providers are strongly encouraged to use reasonable call analytics to block calls before those calls even reach a consumer’s phone.
While the FCC
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently held, for a second time, that a consumer need not receive notice of a potential violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in order for the statute of limitations to start; rather, the focus remains on when the injury occurs. A copy of the
On April 29, New Jersey’s governor signed into law bill A4997, known as the Mortgage Servicers Licensing Act. As the title indicates, the Act creates a licensing regime for servicers of residential mortgage loans secured by real property within New Jersey. As with many state licensing regimes, the Act exempts most banks and
On March 29, in Marshall v. Verde Energy USA, Inc., Judge John Vazquez of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed a plaintiff’s putative class action lawsuit against Verde Energy, finding, in part, that the plaintiff failed to state a claim under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA”). Marshall
On March 22, 2018, the Governor of West Virginia signed into law HB 4285, which amends select provisions of the West Virginia Safe Mortgage Licensing Act (“WVSMLA”). The Bill makes three changes to the WVSMLA, which regulates the licensing requirements for mortgage loan originators.
First, the Bill increases the state license application fee, which appears
On March 22, 2018, the Governor of West Virginia signed into law HB 3143, which amends select provisions of the West Virginia Consumer Credit Protection Act (WVCCPA). First, the Bill amends section 46A-4-101 to clarify that the licensing provisions of the WVCCPA do not apply to any “collection agency” as defined by the Collection Agency
In a move that some consumer advocates worry will erode the notoriously stringent requirements of the California Consumer Privacy Act, the California state legislature’s Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee held a hearing this week where it advanced five different bills that amend and potentially weaken the statute. The bills advanced include the following:
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida recently relied on an Eleventh Circuit prohibition against “shotgun pleadings” to dismiss with prejudice a pro se plaintiff’s claims. In Dressler v. United States Department of Education, plaintiff Sandra Dressler brought a ten-count complaint against nine defendants. She alleged violations of the Fair Credit