Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: Should Medical Debt Be Included in Creditworthiness Measures?
Keeping Up With the Bureau Episode 3: Evolving Federal and State Requirements for Furnishers and Users of Consumer Reports - The Consumer Finance Podcast
CFPB Director Rohit Chopra on Thursday defended his agency’s proposed rule to prohibit the listing of medical debt on credit reports, contending that such debts are not a fair indication of a person’s financial health....more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) is poised to take medical debt off the table for creditors when evaluating a consumer’s eligibility for credit. As it is currently enacted, Regulation V of the Fair Credit...more
The steady drumbeat of steps during Rohit Chopra’s tenure as CFPB Director to call into question the reliability and predictability of medical debt information in credit underwriting reached a crescendo last week with the...more
On June 11, the CFPB announced a proposed rule amending Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to alter the treatment of medical debts in credit reporting. The rule proposes to remove medical bills from...more
On June 11, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a proposed rule amending Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), concerning medical debt. The proposed rule would...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued two letters in support of state efforts to prohibit medical debt reporting. In March 2024, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra sent a letter to the California State Senate in...more
The CFPB announced last week that it has entered into a consent order with Commonwealth Financial Systems, Inc. (Commonwealth), a third-party debt collection company that collects past-due medical debts and furnishes...more
The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on medical debt has spurred the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into action, particularly as it relates to the credit reporting of medical debt. Since 2020, the CFPB has received a steadily...more
On November 16, the CFPB released its annual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act report, which highlighted challenges specific to medical debt collection. For example, 8,500 complaints were submitted in 2022 related to medical...more
Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its 2023 Annual Report on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which notes the CFPB’s activities and observations related to debt collection in...more
Joining every other circuit to address the same issue, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently ruled that a consumer does not have to prove actual damages to recover statutory damages for willful...more
Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) kicked off a rulemaking process that, if enacted, would reshape the credit reporting and debt collection landscape and could have a detrimental effect on medical and...more
To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal and state events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week...more
As those living in the southwestern United States enter the dog days of summer, debt collectors are especially feeling the heat. As if complying with the myriad of state and federal regulations covering the debt collection...more
This week, the Court rejects a challenge to a Nevada law regulating the collection of medical debt. The Court rejects a request for a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of a Nevada law requiring debt collectors...more
Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s denial of preliminary injunctive relief to plaintiffs challenging Nevada Senate Bill 248 (S.B. 248), which places new restrictions on the collection of...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, recently affirmed the district court’s decision denying the plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to block...more
On June 8, 2023, the CFPB filed an administrative consent order against a medical debt collection company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the order, the CFPB detailed several alleged violations of the Fair Credit...more
The CFPB announced at the end of last week that it had entered into a consent order with Phoenix Financial Services, LLC (Phoenix), a third-party debt collector that collects primarily past-due medical debts and furnishes...more
On June 8, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered a consent order against medical debt collector Phoenix Financial Services for alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)...more
The CFPB issued a new report, “Market Snapshot: An Update on Third-Party Debt Collections Tradelines Reporting,” that looks at trends in credit reporting of debt in collections from 2018 to 2022. It also published a new blog...more
On February 14, the CFPB released a report examining debt collection credit reporting trends from 2018 to 2022. The Bureau’s report, Market Snapshot: An Update on Third-Party Debt Collections Tradelines Reporting, is based on...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has released a compliance bulletin and policy guidance reminding debt collectors that attempting to collect on or furnishing information to consumer reporting agencies regarding...more
Senate Bill 1581, introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley [D-Ore.] and co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal [D-Conn.], Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-Mass.], Sen. Bob Menendez [D-N.J.], and Sen. Dick Durbin [D-Ill.], would amend the...more
The CFPB announced that it has entered into a consent order with two law firms specializing in the collection of medical debts and their president for alleged FDCPA violations. The consent order also settles allegations that...more