The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection has issued an alert warning consumers about a growing scam in which fraudsters create near-perfect clones of legitimate car dealership websites, sometimes using AI, to trick buyers into paying upfront for vehicles that don’t exist. Victims show up at the real dealership only to find no record of their order, their payment, or their car.
On July 20, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed Senate Bill 992 (the Bill) into law, with an effective date of October 19, 2026. The amendments modernize the Telemarketer Registration Act (the Act) for the first time in almost three decades to address today’s technology, including robocalls, text messages, ringless voicemails, and AI-generated messaging and impose new compliance obligations on businesses that contact Pennsylvania consumers by phone or text. Significant changes are discussed below.
More than two years after filing suit, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong have secured a $4 million settlement with Manchester, Connecticut auto dealer Chase Nissan LLC, doing business as Manchester City Nissan, along with its owners and managers, resolving allegations of widespread deceptive fee practices targeting consumers in the car-buying process.
On August 7, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a policy statement announcing that it will no longer pursue claims based on disparate impact or “unfair discrimination” theories under any statute it enforces. The FTC’s action is the latest in a series of coordinated federal agency moves away from disparate impact enforcement. As we previously reported here, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed to repeal its Fair Housing Act disparate impact regulations in January 2026, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized its rewrite of Subpart A of Regulation B under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) in April 2026, eliminating the disparate impact “effects test” from ECOA enforcement and reframing ECOA as an intent-only statute (see here). Together with the FTC’s action, these developments signal a sweeping realignment of federal fair lending and consumer protection enforcement away from outcome-based theories and toward intentional discrimination as the operative standard.
After years of pandemic-era forbearance programs, emergency moratoriums, and historically low foreclosure volumes, the mortgage market is undergoing a meaningful correction. Foreclosure activity is rising steadily across the country, and with it comes a familiar set of legal risks for servicers, lenders, and investors. The question is no longer whether foreclosure volumes will normalize — it is whether organizations are prepared for the compliance and litigation exposure that follows.
Statistics for May 2026 consumer litigation filings are in, and the picture is essentially the reverse of April. After all three major consumer protection statutes posted month-over-month increases in April, the first time that had happened in over a year, all three declined in May.
Louisiana and Massachusetts have each recently issued guidance addressing motor vehicle dealer advertising practices, particularly around the disclosure of fees in advertised vehicle prices. Both actions follow the Federal Trade Commission’s March 13, 2026 “Notorious 97” warning letters to auto dealership groups nationwide (discussed here) and reflect ongoing efforts at the state and federal level to ensure that advertised prices accurately reflect the total cost consumers will be required to pay.
The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) recently published new compliance resources for its amended debt collection regulations, known as the SHIELD Rule, which are scheduled to take effect on September 1, 2026.
On June 2, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed SB 254 into law as Act 751, prohibiting retail businesses from imposing surcharges on customers who pay with a debit card. The law takes effect August 1, 2026.
Virginia is implementing a new Business Screening Services (BSS) program that will significantly change how private background screening companies handle Virginia criminal and traffic history records.