To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
Beginning on January 1, 2022, any person engaged in the business of debt collection in California must be licensed under the Debt Collection Licensing Act. Licensed entities also are subject to additional requirements under the Act, such as developing compliance-focused policies and procedures, maintaining surety bonds, filing annual reports, and undergoing periodic examinations. The Act made related changes to existing debt collection laws in the state as well.
For purposes of the Debt Collection Licensing Act, debt collection is “any act or practice in connection with the collection of consumer debt.” A debt collector is “any person who, in the ordinary course of business, regularly, on the person’s own behalf or on behalf of others, engages in debt collection,” and this includes any person who composes and sells, or offers to do the same, forms, letters, and other collection media used or intended to be
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
The CFPB recently issued a Consumer Complaint Bulletin analyzing consumer complaints regarding three categories of COVID-19 relief: 1) the suspension of federal student loan payments; 2) the issuance of Economic Impact Payments (EIPs); and 3) eviction moratoriums.
Among other information, the bulletin notes the following:
Although consumer complaints regarding evictions and eviction-related debt collection have increased recently, few of these complaints are about current eviction proceedings, but are instead often related to concerns about collections for prior evictions, including daily late fees, or concerns about negative credit reporting upon the expiration of eviction moratoriums;
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
The CFPB recently issued a consent order against a fintech company for allowing contractors and merchants to take out loans on behalf of consumers without their authorization, thereby violating the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010. The order requires the company to refund or cancel up to $9 million in loans for harmed consumers, pay a civil penalty of $2.5 million to the CFPB, and prevent future abuses through the implementation of new procedures.
The CFPB alleged that the non-bank institution used merchants, largely those providing home improvements, to offer financing to consumers before making lending decisions based on criteria provided by its partner banks. Proceeds from the loans then bypassed consumers and were distributed directly to the merchants.
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
The CFPB recently released a Spanish-language version of the model clauses for the mortgage servicing rules in Regulation X. These model clauses are a compliance aid provided to illustrate how a mortgage servicer can comply with the early intervention written notice content requirements.
Under the servicing rules, servicers can make required disclosures in any language, provided they are available in English upon request. In releasing this Spanish translation, the CFPB encourages mortgage servicers to identify a borrower’s preferred language and, where appropriate, provide translated materials in order to better assist the borrower.
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
On July 1, 2021, the FTC commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a package of omnibus resolutions that instructed the agency’s personnel to employ fact-finding “compulsory process” devices, such as subpoenas and civil investigative demands, to scrutinize seven areas that have been designated as enforcement priorities. The enforcement areas of interest encompass: conduct affecting workers and small businesses; COVID-19-related damages; healthcare organizations, specifically hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and pharmacy benefits managers; mergers, both in-progress and already consummated; repeat offenders; and technology companies and digital platforms.
Compulsory process mandates that a party under investigation, or a related party, provide the commission with information, testimony, documents, or data. While compulsory process approval is sometimes limited to a particular investigation, the newly-approved reso