On September 3, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a new bulletin warning credit card issuers against certain interest-rate promotions that, it claimed, posed a risk of deceptive or abusive conduct. The transactions at issue involve solicitations that “offer a promotional annual percentage rate on a particular transaction over a defined period of time” and
SEC Finalizes Tougher Credit Rating Agency Rules
On August 27, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted new rules for credit rating agencies to enhance governance, protect against conflicts of interest, and increase transparency to improve the quality of credit ratings and increase credit rating agency accountability. Industry observers hope that the new rules will address problems that have contributed to the failure
Seventh Circuit Favors Simplified and Neutral Class Action Notices
In a June 2 decision, Judge Richard Posner, writing for a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, criticized a number of statements and other aspects within a notice of class action settlement that had been approved by the district court. In response to a number of objections
Cordray’s Renewed Questioning Concerning Recess Authority
In a letter dated July 29, addressed to Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, two Republicans – Representative Jeb Hensarling, Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, and Mike Crapo, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs – continue to question the validity of the CFPB’s
Is Your Smartphone an ATDS? The United States Says “No”.
TCPA litigation is running rampant in courts throughout the country. Automatic telephone dialing systems, or “ATDSs” or “autodialers”, are at the heart of virtually every TCPA case involving cell phones. Why? Because if a call to a person’s cell phone was not made with an ATDS as defined by the statute, there is virtually no
FICO Announces New Scoring Model that Could Raise Credit Scores
On August 7, FICO – the creator of one of the most widely used and influential credit scores – announced that it had recalibrated its credit scoring model to include a more nuanced way to assess consumer collection information, bypass paid collection agency accounts, and offer options to differentiate medical from non-medical collection agency accounts.
The CFPB Admits False Allegations?
On August 8, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau admitted to the falsity of its August 6 allegations that two Midwestern credit unions marketed products and services to university students without adequately disclosing the deals’ terms. As it turned out, the credit unions had no agreements with the universities and were mistakenly targeted by the CFPB’s
Consumer Data Class Actions Filed Against Foot Locker and Macy’s
Foot Locker Retail Inc. and Macy’s Corporate Services, Inc. were hit with separate class action lawsuits in California federal court alleging that the companies illegally collected consumers’ personal information at in-store checkouts. The plaintiffs claim that both businesses required customers to provide personal information such as telephone numbers, identification cards, and ZIP codes before processing
Prepaid Cards – CFPB’s Latest Target
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will begin looking into complaints about prepaid cards – including gift cards, benefit cards, and general purpose reloadable cards – the Bureau announced Monday. Consumers can also now submit complaints about additional nonbank products, including debt settlement services, credit repair services, and pawn and title loans.
The CFPB already
CFPB Adds Narrative to Complaint Database
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced a new proposal that will allow consumers the option to share a narrative of “what happened” in the CFPB’s public-facing Consumer Complaint Database. According to the CFPB, this new feature would “empower consumers to publicly voice their complaints about consumer financial products and services” and “provide important context