On August 5, the New York Attorney General announced a settlement with Provision Supply, LLC, d/b/a EZcontactsUSA.com over a data breach resulting in the potential exposure of over 25,000 credit card numbers and other cardholder data. Provision Supply, the operator of EZContactsUSA.com, a Brooklyn-based e-tailer that sells contact lenses and eyewear, agreed to pay $100,000
On June 9, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed into law the South Carolina Anti-Money Laundering Act. The South Carolina AML Act, among other requirements, imposes a licensing requirement for persons and entities engaged in money transmission in the state. South Carolina is now the 49th state to implement a law regulating money
The FTC announced that it has reached a settlement with Herbalife that includes a $200 million payment to compensate consumers. In addition to the payment, the settlement agreement has an unusual provision requiring a complete restructuring of Herbalife’s existing business model.
In its complaint against the company, the FTC alleges that Herbalife claimed that people
On July 28, at a public hearing in Sacramento, California, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released an outline of new rules targeting third-party debt-collection operations. The new rules seek to curb “excessive or disruptive” communication by restricting collectors from calling debtors numerous times a day, require debt collection companies to have “more and better
On July 14, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had entered into a final consent order with Ohio auto dealers Progressive Chevrolet Company and Progressive Motors Inc. (collectively, the “Progressive Dealers”), which the FTC had “charged with deceiving consumers by using advertising that touted low monthly car lease payments and down payments but failed
The FTC recently approved increases to the maximum civil penalty amounts available for violations of statutes subject to FTC enforcement. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015 authorizes increases affecting sixteen statutes under FTC enforcement authority.
The amended maximums take effect August 1, 2016.
New maximum civil penalties for the following violations will
On July 13, the FTC filed a proposed settlement agreement in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida between a group of lead generators and the FTC and the Office of the Florida Attorney General. The named lead generators included PC Cleaner, Inc.; Netcom3 Global, Inc.; Netcom 3, Inc.,
On July 13, a federal judge tossed out a challenge to the recess appointment of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray.
In State National Bank of Big Spring et al. v. Lew et al., the State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, joined by conservative advocacy groups The Competitive Enterprise Institute and
In a memorandum dated June 30, the Connecticut Department of Banking stated that it will take no action against licensed consumer collection agencies who collect student loan debt if the licensed consumer collection agencies do not have a license to service student loans. The Department stated that consumer collection agencies who collect student loan debt
On June 28, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its Monthly Complaint Report, which aims to provide “a high-level snapshot of trends in consumer complaints” concerning products such as auto loans, installment loans, and title loans. The CFPB claims that since it began collecting such complaints in July 2011, it has handled a total