On June 20, following unanimous approval by the state legislature, the governor of Maine enacted a new set of laws – “the Student Loan Bill of Rights” – designed to regulate the student loan servicing industry.
The new laws, enacted for the benefit of Maine residents obligated on a student loan as a
On June 14, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a settlement that effectively forgives $168 million in private student loans owed by former students of ITT Technical Institute, the for-profit college that filed for bankruptcy in 2016 in the face of regulatory scrutiny concerning its recruitment and student loan practices. The settlement is with Student
Align Income Share Funding is giving consumers cash in exchange for monthly payments, but don’t call it a loan. Instead, Align offers Income Sharing Agreements (“ISAs”) whereby consumers borrow money and then pay back a fixed percentage of their income for up to five years. It’s a new financial product that’s growing in popularity,
On March 29, in Marshall v. Verde Energy USA, Inc., Judge John Vazquez of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed a plaintiff’s putative class action lawsuit against Verde Energy, finding, in part, that the plaintiff failed to state a claim under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA”). Marshall
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania concluded that an admitted professional litigant stated a claim under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when he received the defendant’s telemarketing calls on his cell phone. The determinative factor was lack of allegations and evidence that the plaintiff used the phone for the sole purpose of bringing TCPA lawsuits. A
The West Virginia Supreme Court ruled against a debt collector in LTD Financial Services, L.P. v. Collins, affirming the lower court’s order granting the plaintiff’s motion for a directed verdict. Specifically, the Court ruled that the plaintiff was not required to prove intent as part of his affirmative claim and LTD Financial Services did
In a comprehensive report issued last week, the American Bankruptcy Institute Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy proposed recommendations that would allow student loans to be easier to discharge in bankruptcy, citing the staggering $1.5 trillion in student loan debt held in the United States and the current difficulties with discharging this type of debt in bankruptcy.
In connection with passing New York’s 2020 Executive Budget, the state enacted sweeping new regulations on student loan servicing. Governor Andrew Cuomo previously announced the regulations in a statement saying, “The student loan servicer industry has repeatedly raised serious consumer protection concerns that need to be addressed and with this proposal, we will provide sweeping
In light of recent challenges to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act on First Amendment grounds, a recent decision from the Middle District of Florida provides yet another clear example of the TCPA’s content-based discrimination.
The case, Gaza v. Navient Solutions LLC, No. 8:18-cv-1049, concerned calls made to a cell phone to collect a student
On February 28, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) re-introduced the Protecting Job Opportunities for Borrowers (“Protecting JOBs”) Act (S.609). The legislation would prevent states from suspending, revoking, or denying state professional, teaching, or driver’s licenses solely because a borrower falls behind on their federal student loan payments.
Government entities may seize state-issued
