Debt collection

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.

Everyone knows the proverb "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a proposal Wednesday aimed at improving the way that companies submit consumer credit card agreements to the bureau.

A contingent of former Corinthian Colleges Inc. students, backed by student advocates and more than a dozen Senate Democrats, has demanded that the U.S. Department of Education forgive thousands of federal student loans taken out by Corinthian students.

Officials in Elmhurst, Ill., a Chicago suburb, are looking at hiring a new collection agency to pursue overdue parking tickets and other delinquencies.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray discussed CFPB enforcement efforts and the pending rules for the debt collection industry, which are expected to be issued this year, during the National Association of Attorneys General meeting.

A complaint filed in district court by the Federal Trade Commission aims to stop an operation that has targeted consumers with outstanding payday loans, claiming they could help resolve those debts but then providing little or none of the financial relief promised.

A North Carolina newspaper published an editorial this week stating that state law, the Affordable Care Act and a series of articles published in 2012 has led nonprofit hospitals in North Carolina to become less aggressive in pursuing former patients who can’t pay their bills.

Student loan debt remains a pressing concern in the U.S. because of high balances and high rates of delinquencies and defaults. The issues have been discussed in recent blog posts by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Liberty Street Economics team.

The credit card delinquency rate remained steady in Q4 compared with a year earlier, while total outstanding credit card balance increased 5%. The increase indicates record growth, the highest yearly jump seen since 2008, according to a TransUnion report.

A bill introduced in the New York State Senate would make it illegal for debt collectors and creditors to use social media when attempting to collect debts.