Debt collection

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.

Using big data can help credit unions better understand which delinquent members have the assets to repay accounts in collections, saving CUs time and effort, and increasing the likelihood of repayment.

Rather than push for looser rules on robo-calls, the industry should focus on policy related to the channels consumers prefer: email and text messages.

Most recently Thomas Pahl worked on debt collection and credit reporting issues as a partner at Arnall Golden Gregory in Washington.

Jessica Rich, who joined the agency in 1991, is stepping down in mid-February, the FTC announced Tuesday.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

The newly installed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission voted against 2015 rules that largely rejected the banking industry's entreaties.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday warned about the risks of the online debt sales, alleging that sensitive personal and financial information is available in some instances to any visitor to a debt marketplace website.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit Wednesday against two New York debt collectors for deceiving and harassing millions of consumers to pay inflated debts.

The piling on at Wells Fargo has reached an unprecedented level, even for a bank. Fifteen investigations are underway into Wells' phony account openings. Experts are quantifying the damage to Wells' reputation and what the bank can do going forward to repair it.

Two San Francisco supervisors on Tuesday introduced a resolution that would "end all business with Wells Fargo," in response to the fake account scandal and other practices that have harmed consumers.