Darren Waggoner

Wyoming Medical Center plans to administer an easier application process for charity care patients, according to Nancy Brandt, chief financial officer. Of about $30 million in uncompensated care provided by the Casper, Wyo.-based health care group each fiscal year, about 20% is from charity care patients and 80% is from "bad debt" patients.

U.S. home foreclosures jumped in May to 261,255, a 48% increase from May 2007, according to RealtyTrac's latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which measures default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. Last month's total is up 7% from April.

The doom and gloom data arrive in higgledy-piggledy fashion on a daily basis, and it can be difficult for lenders – particularly in the housing market – and their credit risk managers to wrap their heads around all of it.

A Kansas City, Mo., law firm has filed a class-action lawsuit against a health care company, alleging that it used an in-house collection department to contact patients about their medical bills, but misrepresented itself as a third party unrelated to the company, in violation of two sections of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

CompuCredit Corp., the Atlanta-based subprime credit card issuer that was sued yesterday by the Federal Trade Commission and faces charges by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, issued a pointed response to the allegations by the federal agencies.

With health insurance moving toward greater patient cost sharing, a study by private foundation Commonwealth Fund finds a sharp increase in the number of underinsured people, a group that, logically, also has greater problems with their medical bills.

White Plains, N.Y.-based Debt Resolve Inc., which hosts an online bidding system to resolve debts, has received proof of funds from Harmonie International LLC, and granted Harmonie an extension to June 20 to fulfill its commitment to invest $7 million in the company.

Softening of consumer lending demand has persisted over the past eight weeks and delinquencies on consumer loans has increased in some areas, according to the Beige Book, the Federal Reserve Board's summary of economic activity reports from all 12 central bank districts, which was released Wednesday.

Australian receivables manager Collection House Ltd. has executed a new forward flow agreement with a major Australian bank. The agreement, which covers the acquisition of credit card debts, runs for 12 months and has an estimated face value of AUD $50 million (U.S. $47.4 million).

Anticipating that Discover Financial Services will report very little change in charge-offs and delinquency rates for its credit card loan book during May, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher Brendler on Wednesday suggested that the economic stimulus checks will have a scant impact on cardholder payments.

Expressing dissatisfaction with their outsourced collection service vendors, a town in Pennsylvania and another in West Virginia recently moved to fire their agencies.

The New York State Assembly this week approved a package of four bills that are intended to protect state residents from abusive debt collection practices. Each of the bills was sponsored by member Audrey Pheffer, who began studying the industry's practices and consumer complaints two years ago.

Stockholm-based Investor AB has agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Oslo-based international debt collection firm Lindorff Group AB and entered into a partnership agreement with the previous majority shareholder, Altor Equity Partners.

Moody's: Dichotomy in Card Delinquency Trends May be Due to Tough Collection Environment

Mortgage Delinquencies Continue to Rise

Consumer credit outstanding rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.25% during April, aided by a 6.5% increase in borrowing on non-revolving accounts, consisting primarily of closed-end loans for items such as mobile homes, tuition and vacations. Revolving credit – primarily credit card spending – increased only 0.4% during April, compared with 7.4% growth in March.

Fifth Third Bank of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky is responding to the region's growing credit crisis by stepping up its outreach to customers struggling to make payments on their mortgages or other debts, such as car loans and credit cards.

Home Depot Inc. reports holders of its private-label credit card are more frequently paying late and defaulting as credit scores weaken across the board.

The U.S. Labor Department said today that the nation's unemployment rate jumped to 5.5% in May from 5.0% in April, the biggest monthly increase since February 1986 and a rise that places unemployment at the highest level since October 2004.

Get ready to update the customer lists.