Debt collection

In a world where most financial matters can be handled with a few taps on an app, debt collection appears stuck in the last century.

The Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based credit union agreed to pay $95,000 to settle claims that it incorrectly repossessed vehicles of service members.

Cash Express LLC allegedly sent customers threats of legal action even though the time for taking legal action had expired.

A detailed breakdown released by the agency shows residents in California, Florida and Texas having submitted the most complaints about a financial institution, but D.C. had the most per-capita complaints.

The agency alleges that some customers made payments to the e-commerce group even though their accounts had already been sold to third-party debt buyers.

A ruling involving a Cleveland law firm casts doubt on CFPB claims that attorneys misrepresent their role to consumers.

The CFPB said National Credit Adjusters had hired third-party collectors that routinely inflated the amounts that customers owed.

Consumer advocates are urging local governments and courts to consider a person’s ability to pay before assessing fines and fees for such infractions as unpaid traffic tickets. Such changes could help low-income households avoid bankruptcy — and perhaps even make them more bankable.

Joel Tucker is the brother of Scott Tucker, who in January was sentenced to 16 years in prison for perpetrating an unrelated payday-loan scheme.

The CFPB ordered Security Group Inc. to pay $5 million for making illegal threats, including that consumers could go to jail.

Payment collections will never be easy, but the availability of so much data and the means to make meaningful sense out of it with AI and advanced analytics is helping collections firms be more efficient and smart about their interactions, writes Scott Kendrick, vice president of marketing at CallMiner.

In the joint report with the Federal Trade Commission on debt collection practices, the CFPB said it had initiated four enforcement actions last year, had resolved one case and has five others pending.

FIs say that an appeals court’s decision to ease restrictions will allow them to warn customers more easily when loans are past due or accounts have been compromised. But consumer groups argue that the decision gives financial firms license to market their products more aggressively and could lead to more harassing phone calls over unpaid debts.

Banks say that an appeals court’s decision to ease restrictions will allow them to warn customers more easily when loans are past due or accounts have been compromised. But consumer groups argue that the decision gives financial firms license to market their products more aggressively and could lead to more harassing phone calls over unpaid debts.

The move is aimed at boosting services avaialble to the credit union service organization's member-owners.

The best course of action is to not focus advocacy efforts on the CFPB; rather, focus efforts on those members of Congress who support small business, deregulation and free enterprise, writes Rozanne Anderson, vice president and chief compliance officer for Ontario Systems.

The tech giant won praise from consumer groups for its decision to ban ads for high-cost consumer loans. But the policy contains a big loophole, and advertisers have found multiple ways to exploit it.

Lustig, Glaser & Wilson often harassed the wrong consumers, demanded amounts that were not owed, bullied consumers into paying from exempt income, and failed to obtain legitimate documentation of those debts, state officials said.

As the CFPB prods banks to improve their debt collection processes, tech firms are applying artificial intelligence, chatbots and self-service portals to create a more enlightened approach.

Host Brett King reports from this week's LendIt conference in New York.