Debt collection

Debt buyer PRA Group has expanded its Norfolk, Va. headquarters for the second time in just more than a year.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appears ready to act on rules limiting arbitration clauses as the bureau continues to argue such agreements harm consumers.

U.S. credit card debt jumped by $57.1 billion - up 47% - in 2014 compared to 2013 and the forecast calls for the total to reach $60 billion this year, according to a new survey from CardHub.

Credit-reporting giants Equifax Information Services, Experian Information Solutions and TransUnion will change the way they handle errors and treat medical debt after reaching a settlement with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

A bill to replace the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s director leadership with a bipartisan commission appointed by the president was introduced by Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas), chairman of the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee and a member of the House Financial Services Committee.

WASHINGTON — Loan demand continues to increase across the country, even though some economic sectors are still struggling, according to a report released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Board.

There are three main areas that collections managers have to concern themselves with when receiving a new placement to work: compliance considerations, contact information and ability to pay.

A TransUnion study revealed that approximately 26.5 million consumers, who previously could not be scored, can be effectively scored using a new risk model.

The Federal Trade Commission is launching two new robocall contests challenging the public to develop a crowd-source honeypot and better analyze data from an existing honeypot.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has affirmed a district court’s dismissal of claims against debt buyer LVNV Funding for filing proofs of claim in a state where it was not licensed as a debt collector.

A Washington state law that restricts payday loan marketing to poor families has caused the state’s payday lenders to lose three-quarters of their business in the five years since it was enacted, according to published reports.

The FTC and 10 state attorneys general have taken action against a Florida-based cruise line company and seven other companies that assisted a massive telemarketing campaign resulting in billions of robocalls.

Unique Management Services is handling collections for the Hamilton Township Free Public Library in New Jersey, which is owed an estimated $200,000 in unpaid fines for overdue books and materials. The collection agency contracts with large public libraries nationwide.

Investors taking over delinquent mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must work harder to reach deals allowing borrowers to keep their homes, according to new rules that are a nod to housing advocates who complain that investors often treat homeowners unfairly.

Debt buyer Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. will lay off 125 employees this spring. The firm's parent company, Encore Capital Group, disclosed the layoff plans this week in a required filing with the state.

The U.S. Department of Education's plan to end contracts with five collection agencies that allegedly provided wrong information to borrowers is expected to result in 400 lost jobs at one of the agencies.

The surprising part of a recent report on U.S. stress tests is not that Deutsche Bank and Banco Santander might fail, but that large banks manage to pass any country's stress tests at all.

Debt collection held steady as the second ranked consumer complaint reported to the Federal Trade Commission, according to the federal agency's 2014 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book, which was released Friday.

Total lawsuits filed under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act rose in January while lawsuits citing violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act fell. The numbers reverse a trend from the past three years.

Federal and state regulators filed lawsuits against two debt collection rings for allegedly using threats and abusive language, including falsely stating that consumers would be arrested. The operations collected more than $45 million in supposed debts, according to the complaints.