On October 15, Minnesota’s attorney general sued a Texas credit card processor, accusing the Apex Merchant Group (“Apex”) of using bait and switch tactics to rip off small businesses. Apex allegedly promised small businesses it could save them money on credit card processing services, then hit them with higher undisclosed fees.
According to Minnesota Attorney
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will review how credit unions and banks use reporting agencies to screen members when they open a checking account, according to CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s remarks at an October 8 forum in Washington. The CFPB is concerned about the accuracy of reports from these databases, whether customers can access and
On September 25, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a Project Catalyst research pilot to examine the effectiveness of early intervention credit counseling for consumers who are at risk of default on their credit card debt. The project is aimed at exploring ways to help consumers better manage their credit card debt and avoid default.
New York Court administrators recently announced new rules impacting cases involving debt collector-plaintiffs with certain debt claims against consumers. As we discussed on May 7th when the proposed rules were announced, the new rules place a higher burden of proof on debt collector-plaintiffs to establish chain of title and that they actually own the debt
On September 24, a federal judge in Minnesota declined to dismiss a proposed class action alleging that Sempris LLC (“Sempris”) sold “memberships” in supposed money-saving programs that instead resulted in illegal, unauthorized monthly credit card charges.
The plaintiff, a Georgia resident, alleges Sempris, which operates “membership loyalty programs” that offer discounts and coupons, was responsible
On August 1, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion rejecting federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) and the National Banking Act for a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General of Hawaii on behalf of state residents (sometimes called a parens patriae suit) against financial companies
According to a recent study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the financial data gathered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on 25 million to 75 million U.S. credit cardholders is not safe enough. As part of its government mandate, the GAO examined laws, regulations, and contracts pertaining to the CFPB’s data collection methodologies, risk
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
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
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