Debt collection

West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw filed a lawsuit Tuesday against seven unlicensed debt collection agencies he accuses of using unfair tactics to receive money from consumers.

When people think about big banks what is the first thing that comes to mind? It might be they have the best product selection, robust online banking services, convenient ATM/branch locations, the most competitive interest rates or any number of other appealing product and service items.

The Federal Trade Commission filed an injunction in federal court Monday charging that a web of defendants - including AMG Services Inc., several Internet-based lending companies and race car driver Scott Tucker - violated federal laws by deceiving consumers when providing and collecting on payday loans.

The 2011 complaint data in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) recent report to Congress paints an inaccurate portrait of consumer complaints against the third-party debt collection industry, according to ACA International, the largest association for debt collection agencies.

It is hard to deny Richard Cordray's hiring to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau nearly four months ago is a flash point in continuing debates over regulatory appointments and implementing the Dodd-Frank Act.

John Tonetti, debt collection program manager for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, on Thursday told an audience of collection industry leaders that the regulatory agency is listening to debt collectors.

Until the mid 1980s, most fraud went undiagnosed or misreported. The debate today seems to be whether the increasing digital landscape ends up increasing or decreasing fraud overall.

Meade and Associates, a collection agency based in Westerville, Ohio, next month will begin trying to collect an estimated $900,000 in unpaid lunch money from nearly 6,000 Columbus (Ohio) City Schools students.

Since releasing 2011 litigation numbers, WebRecon LLC has revised the year-end total after finding some omissions that, as it turns out, had depressed the count.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee in Pennsylvania wants a judge to dismiss the bankruptcy case of Michael J. Covatto, former president of defunct collection agency Unicredit America Inc., an Erie, Pa.-based firm that operated a fake courtroom allegedly to intimidate debtors (see story).

A U.S. district court has halted an operation that the Federal Trade Commission alleges collected phantom payday loan “debts” that consumers did not owe.

A U.S. District Court in Ohio has given preliminary approval to a class-action settlement for unlawful collection practices against law firm Kaufman & Florence, based in Lebanon, Ohio.

The overall success of the small to mid-sized business (SMB) market remains pivotal to the full economic recovery.

Good customers are good customers right up until they’re not. This is the fundamental paradox of credit risk analysis. The most profitable customers are often the ones that are closest to being unprofitable.

It's that time of the year again. We find ourselves making our lists and checking them twice. As December draws to an end and we look forward to what's coming in 2012, it's time to spread some holiday cheer by sharing what's on the wish list of the nation's more than 150,000 collectors.

This month the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau held an invitation-only teleconference and issued a press release announcing its "Early Warning Notice," which would allow banks the opportunity to respond to findings by the CFPB before commencing enforcement actions.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is open for business, of course, but it still promises to be awhile before the collection industry gets a clear idea of how the regulatory agency intends to oversee it.

Profitability is under attack in the banking world today. Economic realities and the regulatory environment have forced banks to change how they do business.

Consumers filed an estimated 400 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuits in the Aug. 16-31 period, down from 441 filed in the first half of August, according to data from U.S. district courts.

LVNV Funding LLC, a Greenville, S.C.-based debt buyer, has settled a lawsuit in Maryland's federal court that involved the firm's license status in the state. The company agreed to erase an estimated $10 million in consumer debt for some 3,500 plaintiffs.