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…
On May 26, 2017, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt (Kansas AG) announced that a New York-based debt collector and its owner were banned from debt collection and enforcement in Kansas. Shawnee County District Court Judge Teresa Watson approved the consent judgment ordering the company to stop doing business in Kansas, dismissing…
On May 23, 2017, the District of Columbia Attorney General’s Office announced that it had entered into a consent order with a Maryland debt relief company and its owner for violating the District of Columbia’s Consumer Credit Service Organizations Act, D.C. Code § 28-4601, et seq., by falsely promising to help consumers reduce or eliminate debt. The debt relief…
On May 15, 2017, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office (“Minnesota AG”) announced that it obtained a judgment in a lawsuit filed in Minnesota state court against a debt collection company. As a result of the final judgment, the company is permanently barred from collecting debts in Minnesota and must pay a…
On April 12, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had secured a $2 million civil penalty against the president of a debt collection company for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in United States v. Commercial Recovery Systems, Inc.—one of over a hundred cases brought…
On April 24, 2017, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that a federal court ordered the president of a debt collection company to pay $2 million in civil penalties under the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). A Judge in the U.S. District Court…
On April 18, 2017, the United States Supreme Court, once again with nine justices sitting on the bench, heard oral arguments in Henson v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., No. 16-349, concerning the scope of the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1692 –1692p. As previously…
On April 20, 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO) announced that the president and chief executive officer of a Buffalo-based debt collection company was sentenced to 100 months in prison for engaging in illegal and abusive debt collection practices. According to the USAO, the defendant…
On April 17, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against an Ohio-based debt collection law firm, alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The…
On April 5, 2017, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office (“Colorado AG”) announced that it had secured a judgment against a debt collection agency and two of its principals. The Colorado AG had accused the company of operating without a license and of deceptive collection practices. According to the Colorado AG, the company…
On April 14, 2017, the District of Columbia Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with a California-based debt collection company and its owner arising from allegations that their debt collection practices violated the District of Columbia’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act and Debt Collection Law. The…
On March 28, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released Volume 21 of its Monthly Complaint Report (the “Report”). The purpose of the Report is, in part, to educate consumers and financial institutions on major consumer issues—which it does by providing a high-level analysis of trends in consumer complaints, focusing on one or two…
On March 24, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it entered into a consent order with a debt collection company, resolving allegations that the company engaged in unfair and abusive debt collection practices in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692-1692p, and section 5 of…
On March 10, 2017, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office (“Illinois AG”) announced that it had brought criminal contempt charges against the former proprietor of a debt collection business (the “defendant”). The defendant is accused of operating a new debt collection business, which is an alleged violation of a consent decree concerning…
On Friday, February 24, 2017, more than half of the U.S. states’ attorneys general (the Amici States) filed an amicus brief in support of the petitioners in Henson v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., a case that is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Amici States, along with the petitioners, urge…
On February 14, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had entered into a stipulated order with a student loan debt collector, resolving allegations that the debt collector violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) in its servicing of over two million accounts in…
A recent decision by the Ninth Circuit has created a circuit split regarding the interpretation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). In Vien-Phung Ho v. ReconTrust Co. et al., case no. 10-56884, the court held that the trustee of a California deed of trust is not a “debt collector” under the…
On January 9, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with two affiliated medical debt collection law firms over allegations that the law firms used deceptive collection letters and illegally notarized collection affidavits. The consent order alleges that the law firms would send debtors collection…