Debt collection

A new survey of risk managers in financial services points to stability in the auto finance sector ahead of other lending categories.

The Federal Trade Commission told a U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee that it has been fighting the problem of illegal commercial robocalls through enforcement of the requirements of the Do Not Call program while seeking to spur technological solutions to block unlawful telemarketing calls.

Expert Global Solutions (EGS) and its subsidiaries have agreed to pay a $3.2 million civil penalty – the largest ever obtained by the Federal Trade Commission against a third-party collector.

Consumer borrowing rose higher than expected in May as Americans charged away on their credit cards, according to the Federal Reserve's G.19 report released Monday.

Equifax announced Monday that is acquired TrustedID, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based specialist in identity protection.

U.S. consumers kept paying down debt in the first quarter ended March 31, as household wealth rose higher than the pre-recession peak, the American Bankers Association reported Tuesday.

The Federal Trade Commission filed suit in federal court to halt a mortgage relief scheme that allegedly deceived and preyed on distressed homeowners by charging them $2,000 to $4,000 based on bogus foreclosure rescue claims.

Parallon Business Solutions, a provider of healthcare business and operational services, announced Monday it has completed the acquisition of St. Louis-based The Outsource Group, a national healthcare revenue cycle management firm.

Debt buyer Encore Capital Group announced Tuesday it has closed the $177 million acquisition of Janus Holdings Luxembourg S.a.r.l., the indirect holding company of United Kingdom and Ireland-based Cabot Credit Management.

An estimated 2.5 million Californians had personal information put at risk in 2012 through some type of electronic data breach, according to a report from Attorney General Kamala Harris' office.

A South Dakota man pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of mail fraud for using the mail to steal more than $106,000 from his employer, AAA Collection Co., between 2009 and 2011.

U.S. Bancorp will repay customers $3.2 million to resolve Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claims that it misled military-service members who took part in an auto lending program.

Mounting medical bills are expected to push 1.7 million U.S. households into bankruptcy this year - making health expenses the largest cause of such filings.

Mortgage Investors Corp., one of the nation’s largest refinancers of veterans’ home loans, will pay $7.5 million to settle allegations it targeted veterans. It's the largest fine the FTC has ever collected for violating Do Not Call provisions of the agency’s Telemarketing Sales Rule.

One in five adults age 20 and older have student loan debt and more than half of them worry they may be unable to repay their obligations, according to a study from the Urban Institute's Opportunity and Ownership Project.

The Federal Trade Commission added eight new defendants to a credit card rate reduction case brought last year - including a payment processor that allegedly helped with the fraud.

Lawsuit filings dropped dramatically in May in all three key consumer statute categories - Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act and Telephone Consumer Protection Act, according to WebRecon LLC, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company that tracks the data from U.S. district courts.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld a district court judgment in favor of the Federal Trade Commission and four state attorneys general against a woman involved in a scheme that deceived consumers by falsely promising them a “guaranteed” $25,000 grant from the federal government.

Former collection agency executive Patrick Pinto pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiring to commit bank bribery while he was an executive of Oxford Collection Agency, according to Deirdre M. Daly, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

Two collection agencies in Western New York have announced a merger. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.