On April 12, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced proposed settlements with three marketers for illegal debt relief and loan services. In May 2017, the FTC filed an action against the three marketers and eleven related corporate entities claiming that the defendants engaged in a wide-scale debt relief scheme…
On April 4, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (“Georgia AG”) announced an $8.5 million settlement with a national debt collector, resolving allegations that the company violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act. The Georgia AG had alleged that the company harassed and deceived consumers…
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 Western…
On February 16, 2018, the 6th Circuit, in Hagy v. Demers & Adams (882 F.3d 616 (6th Cir. Feb. 16, 2018)), found that a former borrower did not have standing to assert a claim under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) absent a showing of concrete harm. The case is one of…
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, in Schweitzer v. Comenity Bank, No. 16-10498 (Aug. 10, 2017), a panel of the Eleventh Circuit expanded liability for companies under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 et seq. (TCPA). Building on the holding in Osorio v. State Farm Bank, F.S.B., 746 F.3d 1242, 1255 (11th…
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…
On July 27, 2017, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (Massachusetts AG) announced that it entered into a consent judgment with the largest debt collection law firm in the state and two of its principals. The agreed consent judgment, which asserted violations of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, G.L. chapter 93A, section 2, was entered in…
On July 10, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida entered a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) halting operations and freezing the assets of a debt collection operation, at the request of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”). The FTC charged the defendant company and individuals with violating Section 5(a)…
On July 11, 2017, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a $25 million judgment and permanent injunction against a portfolio management company and a small law office for violations of the Texas Debt Collection Act, Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, and Identity Theft Protection and Enforcement Act. A jury in the District Court of…
On July 13, 2017, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (“Massachusetts AG”) announced that it obtained a preliminary injunction against a debt collection law firm and its principal attorney. The Massachusetts AG alleged that the law firm engaged in unlawful collection practices, in violation of the Massachusetts AG’s debt collection regulations. The law firm collected debts for…
On June 23, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina against a North Carolina debt collection company and its owner, alleging that the defendants took money from consumers for fake or “phantom” debts they did not owe. According…
On May 15, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Midland Funding, LLC, v. Johnson, No. 16–348, in favor of the debt collectors involved in the case. Specifically, Justice Breyer, writing for the Court, held that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U. S. C. §1692 et seq., (FDCPA), which…