Debt collection

A federal lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County, Ill. accuses Wells Fargo of disproportionately targeting minorities with high-cost mortgage loans, spurring a foreclosure crisis in the area.

It is a bold claim: Banks could potentially originate 300,000 more home loans per quarter without taking on too much more risk.

Outstanding household debt rose by $78 billion in the third quarter compared with the previous three months, to $11.71 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s quarterly Household Debt and Credit Report.

New York families victimized by scams such as false promises of loan modifications lose an average of $4,187 per household, 27% higher than the national average of $3,296.

Consumer confidence fell in November, interrupting a steady rise in sentiment, but Americans still indicated plans to spend more, according to the Conference Board. The conflict clouds the trickle down expectations for the collection business.

Account Control Technology Inc. has donated to Susan G. Komen, a nonprofit organization that works to end breast cancer in the U.S. and throughout the world by supporting research, community health outreach, advocacy and programs in more than 30 countries.

Complaints against debt collection companies logged with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rose in October, as did lawsuits citing alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The latest TransUnion Industry Insights Report found that total outstanding credit card balances increased by 4.3% in Q3 2014 from Q3 2013. It signals the second consecutive quarter of significant annual growth and it constitutes the highest growth rate observed since Q4 2008.

The defendants in a federal court action brought by the Federal Trade Commission agreed Thursday to stop running an advance fee recovery scheme for the duration of the ongoing litigation.

The founder of DECA Financial Services, once a fast-growing debt collection agency in Fishers, Ind., is facing federal charges in a $5 million fraud case.

Corinthian Colleges Inc., the higher-education company accused by the CFPB of fair debt violations, announced Thursday that it has agreed to sell campuses in 17 states to an organization that also came under fire this year for collection practices.

Michael Levitis, the owner of a New York debt settlement company, was sentenced to nine years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty in a fraud scheme that law enforcement officials said victimized 1,200 people with false promises of relief from credit card companies and banks.

Federal and state regulators on Wednesday stopped an online scheme that allegedly lured consumers with offers of free credit scores.

The Federal Trade Commission recorded more than 40,000 cases of grandparent scams from 2010 to 2013 and the scam is widely considered to be underreported.

A Georgia-based collection agency and seven employees are facing fraud charges after a federal investigation revealed tactics that prosecutors believe convinced more than 6,000 people to pay the firm an estimated $4.1 million in purported debts, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.

The mortgage delinquency rate continued its robust decline, falling for the 11th straight quarter, according to TransUnion's latest mortgage report.

Dallas officials are supporting a lender called Community Loan Center of Dallas that is designed to allow participants an alternative to the payday lending industry that the city has long battled and heavily criticized.

A TransUnion analysis reveals consumers are moving to different homes at higher rates in the latter part of each year, suggesting that collection agencies might consider updating consumer contact information an additional time.

Law enforcement officials in the Albany, N.Y. area are warning people about a collection scam involving an operation that claims to be from the IRS.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York said Thursday that a voicemail message stating a call is from a debt collector, along with a return phone call where the voicemail message's intended recipient is disclosed to a third party, does not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.