On March 22, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in conjunction with the New York Attorney General (AG), announced that it had entered into settlements with debt collection companies and their operators over allegedly deceptive and unlawful debt collection practices. In a February 2015 complaint filed in the United States District Court for the…
On January 17, the New York Attorney General (AG) filed a motion to compel a debt collection company and its owner to produce financial documents, business records, and other documents in a lawsuit alleging that the defendants were part of an illegal debt collection scheme. The lawsuit, which was filed…
On November 8, a federal court in Georgia issued a temporary restraining order against a Georgia-based debt collector, freezing its assets and granting the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) immediate access to its business premises. The court granted this relief in response to a complaint filed by the FTC alleging that the…
On November 8, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced it filed suit in federal court in California against a national debt-settlement services provider and its CEO based on alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act, 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531, 5536(a), 5564, 5565, the Telemarketing Consumer Fraud and Abuse…
On November 1, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Illinois Attorney General’s Office (Illinois AG) announced (here and here) that they had reached a settlement to resolve a joint action brought against affiliated Chicago-based debt collectors that allegedly used false and misleading tactics in attempting to collect on payday or other small-dollar loans. The…
On September 29, 2017, the Texas Attorney General (Texas AG) announced that it reached settlement in the form of an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with a lead generation company that directed business to a debt relief company that the Texas AG sued in 2013 for providing fraudulent and illegal debt-relief services. The…
On September 27, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had entered into a $760,000 settlement with two affiliated auto finance companies stemming from allegations that the companies violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”), 50 U.S.C. § 3901, et seq., by failing to obtain court orders prior to repossessing vehicles owned…
On September 25, 2017, New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a payday loan servicer and debt collector over the servicing and collection practices on usurious payday loan debts, resulting in nearly $12 million in relief for affected consumers. Payday loans are illegal in New York, and…
On September 18, 2017, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had entered into a $907,000 settlement with an auto loan lender and servicer (“Defendant”). In its complaint, filed the same day in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the DOJ alleged that the Defendant had…
On August 10, 2017, the Massachusetts Division of Banks (DOB) announced that it had reached, together with the financial regulators of Connecticut, Idaho, Minnesota, and North Dakota, a settlement with two companies, resolving allegations that their debt collection practices failed to comply with state and federal consumer protection laws, including the Fair Debt…