On July 30, federal prosecutors in New Jersey filed criminal indictments against two California residents for stealing credit and debit card information from over 90,000 Michaels Stores locations in 19 states. According to the indictments, the individuals skimmed the customers’ card account information for purposes of generating counterfeit bank cards and withdrawing cash from the
District Courts in New York Reject FDCPA Claims Based on Account Numbers Appearing on Envelope
Over the past two weeks, two separate federal district courts in New York held that having a consumer’s account number visible on the outside of an envelope containing letters from debt collection agencies does not, by itself, violate the FDCPA. In these cases, both Judge Colleen McMahon and Judge John Curtin, of the Southern
New York Judge Dismisses Fraud Suit Against Credit Ratings Agencies
On July 31, Justice Anil Singh, a Manhattan Commercial Division judge, dismissed a $1 billion suit filed against various credit ratings agencies alleging fraud connected to the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities prior to the 2008 financial crisis. According to the court, New York’s six-year statute of limitations barred the lawsuit, which was brought by
Federal Court in Pennsylvania Holds Quick Response and Bar Codes Appearing on Envelope Violate FDCPA
District Judge William J. Nealon of the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued two recent decisions holding that both a Quick Response (“QR”) code and a bar code appearing through the glassine window of an envelope containing a collection letter violate section 1692f(8) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which prohibits “using any language or
Congress Trying Again To Reform or Eliminate the CFPB
On July 22, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government approved a spending bill for the 2016 fiscal year that would change the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) leadership structure by replacing the CFPB director with a five-member commission.
The bill also would bring funding for the CFPB’s budget under the annual
Seventh Circuit Finds Plaintiffs Have Standing in Neiman Marcus Data Breach Suit
On July 20, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a group of plaintiffs who sued Neiman Marcus over the theft of their credit card information in a data security breach had standing to sue for fraudulent charges, as well as fraud-prevention expenses and credit monitoring. The appellate court reversed a prior decision from
Judge Denies Law Firm’s Motion to Dismiss Debt Collection Lawsuit Filed by CFPB
On July 14, 2015, a federal judge in Atlanta denied a law firm’s Motion to Dismiss a claim against it filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act or the Dodd-Frank Act (“Dodd-Frank”).
The CFPB filed suit against a
Director Cordray Comments on Ability-to-Repay, TRID, and Credit Cards
On July 15, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) Director Richard Cordray provided insightful testimony on a number of subjects in an appearance before the Senate Banking Committee. During the question-and-answer session, Cordray indicated that the CFPB will be revisiting the income-verification standards of the Ability-to-Repay Rule at some point in the near term. He commented
Trade Groups Submit Comment Letter to CFPB Regarding Its Study on Consumer Arbitration
On July 13, the American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association, and The Financial Services Roundtable submitted a comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in response to the CFPB’s March 10, 2015 Consumer Arbitration Study.
This Arbitration Study has been widely viewed as potentially laying the groundwork for the abolition of mandatory
CFPB Issues “Guiding Principles” for Financial Technology Payment Systems to Ensure Consumer Protections
On July 9, just weeks after initiating its first enforcement actions against payment processors, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an outline of nine “guiding principles” for faster payment networks which will provide greater consumer protections. The CFPB indicated that new technology supporting payment systems must be secure, transparent, accessible, affordable to consumers, and have