On January 3, 49 state attorneys general announced a settlement with Career Education Corporation (“CEC”), a for-profit education company, to resolve claims that CEC engaged in unfair and deceptive practices. The settlement requires CEC to forgo any collection efforts against $493.7 million in outstanding loan debt held by nearly 180,000 former students. It also imposes
A Florida federal judge entered a judgment for over $23 million last week against Robert Guice, the alleged operator of a telemarketing scam offering debt relief services to consumers.
The lawsuit, brought by the Federal Trade Commission and the Florida Attorney General, alleged that Guice created Loyal Financial & Credit Services, LLC (“Loyal”), Life Management
Consumer financial services companies are hopeful that the Supreme Court’s pending decision in Timbs v. Indiana will provide a Constitutional basis for challenging fines and penalties levied by state attorneys general and regulators. The Supreme Court heard oral argument on November 28 on the issue of whether the Excessive Fines Clause has been (or should
Last month, Troutman Sanders reported on the proposed TRACED Act which would instruct the Federal Communications Commission to engage in rulemaking to protect consumers from receiving unwanted calls and text messages from unauthenticated phone numbers. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai tweeted his approval for the bill, but the FCC is not waiting on Congress to fight
The Minnesota Department of Commerce recently entered into a consent order with collection agency Range Credit Bureau, Inc. regarding its compliance practices.
The Commissioner found numerous regulatory and compliance infractions, including the company’s ongoing failure to file an Unclaimed Property report with the state for funds owed to a customer whom the company could not
In March 2018, the Predatory Lending Unit of the Virginia Attorney General Office’s Complaint against online lender Future Income Payments (“FIP”) began with the words of Sir Walter Scott: “what a tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive.”[1] The lawsuit charged FIP with disguising unlawful loans – in excess of 183%
In an ominous sign, Americans’ total debt hit another record high, rising to $13.5 trillion in the last quarter, as student loan delinquencies jumped, according to Reuters. Specifically, flows of student debt into serious delinquency – of 90 or more days – rose to 9.1 percent in the third quarter from 8.6 percent in
On November 16, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the current chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the committee and the author of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, unveiled the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (“TRACED Act”). Among other things, this bill would require carriers to eventually
By: Ashley Taylor, David Anthony, Stephen Piepgrass and Ryan Strasser
The Virginia Consumer Protection Act (VCPA), Virginia Code § 59.1-196 et seq., represents the Virginia General Assembly’s effort to enact a sweeping and potent remedial tool to protect consumers from exploitation by a business where the consumer has engaged in a “consumer transaction” with
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs have filed a complaint against luxury used-car dealership 21st Century Auto Group, Inc. and its owner, Dmitry Zeldin, accusing the dealership of violations of state consumer protection laws. According to the Office of the Attorney General, 21st Century fails to