Debt collection

WASHINGTON — More than 26 million consumers are effectively "credit invisible" because they have no credit record and another 19 million are "unscored" because they have an insufficient or stale credit history, according to a report released Tuesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

A new study shows nearly half of consumers have checked their credit score in the past year, a sign that access to scores is getting easier for consumers.

A new analysis of college debt levels details how an income-based student loan repayment system could help borrowers.

The newly introduced child support payment bill would change federal law in a way that advocates believe would make it more difficult for parents to hide assets ahead of credit checks.

Two House Financial Services Committee members introduced a bipartisan bill late last week that is designed to give lenders breathing room when new disclosure rules go into effect on Aug. 1.

Debt settlement company Morgan Drexen Inc. filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation Friday, shortly before a U.S. appeals court threw out the company's earlier constitutional challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Business groups in North Carolina are backing a bill pending in the state’s House that would lift restrictions the legislature passed in 2009 to protect people from abusive collections.

Joann Needleman, current president of the National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys, has joined national law firm Clark Hill PLC.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including a case for the CFPB's debt collection regulations and the dangers of "real-time" transaction monitoring.

Complaints filed with the CFPB against collection agencies jumped in March while district court numbers revealed an uptick in lawsuits

A measure of consumer credit defaults released Thursday by S&P Dow Jones and Experian shows a slight downward movement.

A federal court has halted a sham operation that promised homeowners to help get their mortgages modified but instead allegedly stole their mortgage payments, thus ushering some deeper into foreclosure and bankruptcy.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is preparing to take the next step in its quest to create new rules for the short-term credit market.

Lawsuits filed against debt collectors have been dismissed in two federal district courts with the decisions holding that filing proofs of claim in bankruptcy cases on time-barred debt is not actionable under the FDCPA.

ACA International is supporting legislation and policy changes designed to help stop "Operation Choke Point" - the program in which the FDIC and Department of Justice reportedly applied pressure to financial institutions to cut off services to certain licensed, legally operating industries.

A bill easing restrictions on the collection efforts of debt buyers won the endorsement of North Carolina's Senate Judiciary Committee in a voice vote Tuesday.

Regions Financial will pay a $7.5 million fine after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it charged consumers illegal overdraft fees on checking and payday-loan-like accounts.

Student advocates and lawmakers are renewing calls for loan forgiveness after Corinthian Colleges’ announcement Sunday that it will close its remaining campuses.

Debt sales are broken. Brokers, buyers and sellers offer books of debt that may be double- or triple-sold, lack documentation, or even be illegally originated.

As a pawnbroker for over 26 years and a former president of the National Pawnbrokers Association, I am alarmed and dismayed by the recent wave of banks terminating their relationships with pawnbrokers.