Debt collection

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.

Pennsylvania regulators filed a lawsuit against an operation that allegedly ran an illegal online payday loan scheme. The suit names several collection agencies as defendants.

An Orlando, Fla.-based operation that allegedly bilked seniors by using pre-recorded robocalls to sell supposedly free medical alert systems has agreed to shut down to settle charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission and the Florida attorney general's office.

A U.S. Treasury Department pilot program involving taking over the collection of defaulted student loan accounts could mean the work eventually will be pulled from private debt collection agencies.

A suburban Chicago collection agency was the subject of a television news report after a former employee spoke out about alleged collection tactics the agency uses to target unsuspecting consumers.

Markind Law Group, a Cherry Hill, N.J. debt collection law firm, has won a court ruling in a case brought by a consumer who argued an arbitration provision included in his sales contract for a Ford Fiesta couldn't be enforced by the firm.

A doctor and nurse in New York were arrested and charged with illegally billing Medicare and Medicaid, according to the state's attorney general.

A federal court has ordered two debt sellers that posted the sensitive personal information of more than 70,000 consumers online to notify the consumers and explain how they can protect themselves against identity theft and other fraud as a result of the disclosures.

A legal association's ethics committee on Wednesday issued an opinion finding that a growing practice by local prosecutors of allowing debt collection agencies to send demand letters - that suggest they came from the prosecutor - violates rules of professional conduct.

Hospitals are expected to save $5.7 billion in bad debt and charity care costs this year because of the Act.

DBA International has announced the addition of Helen Mac Murray as its attorney general consultant and Perry Communications Group Inc. as its new public affairs agency.