Debt collection

Payday loans cost U.S. families an estimated $3.4 billion in fees annually, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

While many retailers start year-end holiday promotions in September, or earlier, a TransUnion study found most consumers wait until later in the year to make the bulk of their holiday season credit card purchases.

Fifty-three percent of respondents to an online poll by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling have never noticed the phone number directing them to a credit counseling agency that's listed on their credit card statement.

New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs on Friday filed a complaint to ban National Credit Adjusters LLC, a Hutchinson, Kan.-based collection agency, from operating in the city.

Philadelphia's City Council has approved a bill that lawmakers hope will lead the city into selling tax liens to private collection agencies.

Pioneer Credit Recovery has been ranked No. 1 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 on a contract to recover past-due accounts owed to government agencies.

The defendants have collected and processed millions of dollars in payment for phantom debts, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Their practices generated almost 3,000 complaints to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel.

Aaron’s Inc., a national, Atlanta-based rent-to-own retailer, agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it knowingly played a direct and vital role in its franchisees’ installation and use of software on rental computers that secretly monitored consumers including by taking webcam pictures of them in their homes.

Massachusetts homeowners facing foreclosure can expect improved protections under regulations filed by the state's Division of Banks that prevent national and state lenders from foreclosing on a property if an application for a loan modification is in process.

A newly created Louisiana state collections agency will seek to reclaim state funds given to 23 nongovernmental agencies that didn't comply with rules for using them.

The new normal in consumer statute lawsuit numbers appears to be an increase in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) filings and a decrease in both Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) cases and Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) filings, according to Grand Rapids, Mich.-based data firm WebRecon LLC.

As if rising mortgage rates aren’t scary enough, some analysts are pointing to a lurking threat to housing: “vampire” properties.

An estimated 48,000 foreclosures were completed in the U.S. in August, down from 72,000 in August 2012, a decrease of 34%, reports CoreLogic.

Consumer delinquencies rose a bit in a range of loan categories in the second quarter ended June 30 as a sluggish economy weighed on borrowers' ability to pay down debt, the American Bankers Association reported on Tuesday.

A legal case involving a default on an Internet payday loan was settled Monday when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the statute of limitations on bringing a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) case starts when a consumer is notified of the violation rather than when a company takes the action.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange is warning state residents of recurring scams involving callers being asked to send money to pay a debt or as a fee to receive prizes or merchandise.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday fined Meracord, a payment processor, for helping collect illegal debt-settlement fees.

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's office is suing companies believed to have colluded to offer illegal payday loans online while claiming to be affiliated with a Native American tribe to avoid legal action.

More than $5.4 million will be mailed to consumers and businesses who were victimized by a massive fraudulent operation that placed unwanted charges on their telephone bills.

While the statistics seem grim, there are many reasons why banks should still enter the student loan market.