Debt collection

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has expanded its Consumer Complaint Database to include state-by-state information and complaints about credit reporting.

A Pennsylvania lawmaker has introduced legislation to legalize high-cost, short-term loans in the state.

Fair Credit Reporting Act and Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuits year-to-date are both tracking well ahead of last year's pace, according to data gathered from U.S. district courts. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases are slightly down from last year's record pace.

The Federal Trade Commission stopped two operations that deceived consumers looking for help handling their debts, including one firm that tricked people by impersonating federal government agencies.

Collection agency DP and Associates has agreed with the West Virginia attorney general's office to return $1.7 million in refunds and cancelled debts to consumers in the state, West Virginia officials announced Tuesday.

Collection agency Resurgent Capital Services LPA and affiliated debt buyer LVNV Funding LLC will pay $1 million to Maryland regulators and agreed to dismiss several thousand collection cases to resolve alleged violations of federal and state collection laws.

The Federal Trade Commission won a $2.6 million federal court judgment against three defendants behind a scheme that charged consumers high upfront fees and failed to deliver the mortgage modifications they promised.

The Federal Trade Commission filed suit against Wyndham Worldwide Corp. and three of its subsidiaries for alleged data security failures that led to three data breaches at Wyndham hotels in less than two years.

The operators of an allegedly deceptive mortgage modification business will pay more than $750,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges. The settlements also permanently ban the defendants from selling any mortgage-assistance relief products.

The Federal Trade Commission charged a telemarketing operation with running a deceptive investment scheme that took in at least $10 million from mostly elderly consumers, many of whom invested their retirement savings buying precious metals on credit without knowing the costs and risks.

An estimated 720 different collection agencies and creditors were sued between May 16-31, according to data from U.S. District courts. The number is up from the May 1-15 total of 605.

West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw's office is suing a Virginia title lender over its debt collection practices.

Foreclosure filings - default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions - were reported on 205,990 U.S. properties in May, an increase of 9% from April but still down 4% from the year-ago period.

A U.S. district court has halted an operation that allegedly preyed on financially vulnerable homeowners, convincing them to pay $1,995 or more by holding out false promises that they could help them avoid foreclosure and renegotiate their mortgages.

U.S. credit card debt decreased slightly in May, down .2% to $5,637 from April 2012, according to CreditKarma.com's U.S. Credit Score Climate Report released Wednesday.

Data broker Spokeo Inc., a firm that compiles and sells detailed information profiles on millions of consumers, will pay $800,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it marketed the profiles to companies without taking steps to protect consumers as required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

A Utah-based debt collection agency has settled charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission that it exposed sensitive information on its computers and networks to security risks by failing to implement reasonable security measures.

U.S. consumer borrowing rose less than expected in April, as Americans cut back on the use of revolving credit.

A U.S. district court granted a Federal Trade Commission request and has temporarily shut down a Florida-based operation that allegedly kept pitching bogus credit-repair services nationwide, despite a 2010 court order requiring it to stop.

Everyone is talking about “Big Data” and the opportunities it presents for the financial industry. The movement in the industry suggests that to make better credit decisions, you must use a lot more data.