Consumer reporting dominates complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), according to a new report....more
A U.S. district court in the Eastern District of New York recently denied a motion for summary judgment filed by a credit card issuer because the plaintiff alleged identity theft and a reasonable factfinder could determine...more
According to a recent report by WebRecon, court filings under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and complaints filed with the Consumer...more
On February 16, Kentucky state representative Steve Bratcher (R) introduced House Bill (HB) 578. The bill seeks to create a new section of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act that would restrict how consumer reporting...more
2/27/2024
/ Consumer Protection Act ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Credit Scores ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Personal Information ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda
In representing fintech companies and other lenders, we increasingly confront claims against debt buyers or entities with bank partner relationships brought under Pennsylvania’s Consumer Discount Company Act (CDCA) and the...more
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, seeking public comment on its proposal to amend the Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses (Impersonation Rule or...more
Virginia is currently one of only two states that does not allow class-action lawsuits in its courts. However, that could change soon as House Bill (HB) 418, originally introduced on January 10, 2024, seeks to create a...more
On February 8, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Department of Agriculture Rural Development Rural Housing Service (USDA) v. Kirtz, holding that the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s (FCRA) clear statutory text...more
2/12/2024
/ Borrowers ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Department of Agriculture Rural Development Rural Housing Service v Kirtz ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Government Agencies ,
Loans ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Violations ,
USDA
A federal district court judge in Nevada recently denied competing motions for summary judgment in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) furnisher investigation case, demonstrating the challenges FCRA litigants often face in...more
In Career Counseling, Inc. v. Amerifactors Financial Group, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a district court’s decision denying class certification in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)...more
According to a recent year-in-review report by WebRecon, reversing the trend of the last two years, filings under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) increased in 2023 as compared to 2022. Likewise, complaints filed...more
We are pleased to share our annual review of regulatory and legal developments in the consumer financial services industry. With active federal and state legislatures, consumer financial services providers faced a challenging...more
2/1/2024
/ Automotive Loans ,
Banks ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Debt Collection ,
Digital Assets ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Mortgages ,
Student Loans ,
Tribal Loans ,
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
Following several years of investigating the common practices in the space, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached its first settlement with a data broker over the alleged collection and sale of location information that...more
1/18/2024
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Brokers ,
Data Collection ,
Data Sellers ,
Data Selling ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Geolocation ,
Location Data ,
Personal Data ,
Request For Information ,
Settlement
Information furnishers, beware. A potential rule under consideration by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is explicitly aimed at opening a new era of Fair Credit Reporting Act class actions against companies that...more
On January 11, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued two “advisory opinions” addressing the CFPB’s views of the obligations of consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) under the Fair Credit Reporting Act...more
In a change of course, the Utah court of appeals has reversed the dismissal of a plaintiffs’ suit against a debt collector based on its alleged failure to register as a collection agency prior to filing collection suits....more
A magistrate judge in the Northern District of Georgia recently recommended granting summary judgment in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) case in favor of a background reporting company on the grounds that a report given...more
On December 8, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, the agencies) filed an amici curiae brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to reverse a...more
On December 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it had reached a settlement with medical debt collector Commonwealth Financial Systems, Inc. (Commonwealth) in its lawsuit over alleged illegal debt...more
12/19/2023
/ Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Medical Debt ,
Settlement
On October 18, Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the Eastern District of Virginia approved a $70 million settlement in an antitrust case, with more than $23.3 million awarded to the plaintiffs’ attorneys. This case helpfully...more
12/18/2023
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Class Action ,
Drug Pricing ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Price-Fixing ,
Settlement ,
Settlement Negotiations
In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a report highlighting various unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices it claims to have uncovered during its supervisory examinations from July 2022 to...more
12/15/2023
/ Automotive Loans ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
ECOA ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lenders ,
Loans ,
Mortgages ,
Regulation B ,
Regulation V ,
Regulation Z ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On December 13, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law S4907A, which prohibits hospitals, medical providers, or ambulance services from providing negative information about medical debt to consumer reporting agencies...more
12/15/2023
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Creditors ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt ,
New Legislation ,
New York ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
State and Local Government
The Fair Credit Reporting Act saw no shortage of activity in the first half of 2023. That activity included federal and state legislation. Congress has introduced several bills intended to amend the FCRA — and on the state...more
A U.S. District Court in the Southern District of California recently held that a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 offer of judgment must clearly state that attorneys’ fees and costs are limited or waived, as Arvest Central...more
12/7/2023
/ Attorney's Fees ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA) ,
Consumer Litigation ,
Credit Reports ,
Damages ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Forbearance Agreements ,
Mortgages ,
Offer of Judgment ,
Rule 68 ,
Statutory Violations
According to a recent report by WebRecon, court filings under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) were down for the month of October, but filings under the Fair Debt Collection...more