Debt collection

An online survey revealed that one in 10 people who are married or living together classified their spouse or live-in partner as a "financial bully."

The FTC next year will host a series of seminars to examine the privacy implications of three new areas of technology, including alternative scoring.

African Americans encounter unique financial strain and are harmed more than other groups from their credit card debt, according to a report from Demos and the NAACP.

Louisiana's new Office of Debt Recovery will open in January and have the authority to revoke licenses from consumers, seize bank accounts and take tax refunds to pay down delinquent accounts.

Equifax Inc. released a statement after delivering a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, outlining a free-market exchange alternative to the Credit Access and Inclusion Act.

Overall U.S. foreclosure activity is down 23% year-to-date through October, but foreclosure activity on homes in the $5 million-plus value range is up 61% from the same time period in 2012, according to RealtyTrac.

New York regulators sent subpoenas to 16 online ‘lead generation’ firms suspected of deceptively marketing illegal payday loans in the state.

Arrow Global, a Manchester, UK-based buyer of delinquent debt from credit card companies and banks, posted a healthy increase in collections and earnings in the first nine months of 2013.

Two key players in the I Works scheme that allegedly took more than $275 million from consumers via deceptive trial memberships for bogus government-grant and money-making schemes have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they violated federal law.

Both the credit card delinquency rate (the ratio of borrowers 90 days or more delinquent on their general purpose credit cards) and the average credit card debt per borrower dropped on a yearly basis in the third quarter ended September 30, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion.

U.S. residential properties sold at an estimated annualized pace of 5,649,965, a 2% increase from the previous month and up 13% from October 2012, according to RealtyTrac.

The final six of 10 defendants named in an alleged “Rachel from Cardholder Services” scam have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they misled consumers with bogus claims that they would lower their credit card interest rates.

The auto loan delinquency rate (the ratio of borrowers 60 days or more delinquent on their auto loans) increased to 1.04% in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up on both a quarterly and yearly basis (from 0.87% in the previous quarter and 1.00% in Q3 2012).

Collections giant NCO Financial Systems is closing the health care program at its Columbus, Ohio office in January, putting 85 people out of work.

Joseph Bella, the operator of several collection agencies in the Buffalo, N.Y. area, agreed to pay $165,000 in restitution and penalties in a settlement announced Thursday by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman's office.

The operators of an Atlanta-based company have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that they crammed charges on consumers’ cell phone bills without their consent, causing more than $10 million in consumer injury.

A federal judge has temporarily halted, and frozen the assets of, a Montreal operation that bilked more than $14 million from small businesses and churches in the U.S. for unwanted listings in online business directories.

The DBA International Certification Council announced the approval of several firms to perform independent third-party audits as part of DBA International’s Debt Buyer Certification Program.

With growing numbers of health care professionals urging patients to use medical credit card to pay for treatments not covered by insurance plans, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued a consumer alert Thursday on the risks linked to health care financing.

The West Virginia Supreme Court has overturned a $75,000 verdict against collection firm Green Tree Servicing, ruling that Circuit Court Judge Robert Burnside should have sent the lawsuit to arbitration.