Debt collection

Asset Acceptance Capital Corp., a buyer and collector of charged-off consumer debt, announced that it will close its Cleveland collections office. The closing is expected to reduce the company’s operating expenses by approximately $3 million per year, according to a company statement.

An estimated 510 different collection agencies and creditors were sued under consumer statutes between Dec. 1-15, a jump from 428 in the second half of November, according to data from U.S. District Courts.

The Federal Trade Commission is taking legal action against a massive Internet enterprise that allegedly has made millions of dollars by luring consumers into "trial" memberships for government-grant and money-making schemes, then charging various fees to their credit and debit card numbers.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced this week that his office has reached a consent judgment with Elite Financial Services Inc., a debt settlement company that allegedly misrepresented its services.

U.S. foreclosure filings in November totaled 262,339, a 21% decrease from the previous month and a 14% decrease from November 2009.

A consortium of non-profit consumer credit counseling agencies filed a joint complaint letter with the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday, calling for the agency to take "immediate investigative and enforcement action against debt settlement companies that have brazenly evaded" the FTC's recently amended Telemarketing Sales Rules.

An estimated 428 different collection agencies and creditors were sued under consumer statutes between Nov. 16-30, a drop from 497 in the first half of the month, according to data from U.S. District Courts. The tally likely dropped in part because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Beacon Financial Group Inc. has acquired Estate Recoveries Inc., a Baltimore-based accounts receivable management firm that specializes in deceased debt accounts, the companies announced Friday.

Even though economic recovery still has a long way to go, we have all heard enough of the bleak forecasts and are ready for some positive news.

A U.S. district court has approved a Federal Trade Commission settlement to shut down two groups of Florida-based telemarketers that allegedly flooded consumers with misleading pre-recorded robocalls falsely promising to reduce their credit card interest rates.

TransUnion predicts that both mortgage and credit card delinquencies will drop sharply again in 2011, after large declines already experienced in the second half of this year.

The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday it has banned a deceptive advertising operation from the debt-relief business under a $28.2 million judgment settlement.

Internal Revenue Service agents and local law enforcement raided collection agency Maxwell, Turner & Associates Inc.'s office in Monrovia, Calif. on Friday and arrested two suspects for allegedly scamming local businesses out of millions of dollars in a telemarketing scheme.

The Federal Trade Commission charged three debt-relief operations with making unsubstantiated claims to lure consumers nationwide into paying thousands of dollars in upfront fees, but failing to reduce credit card debts as promised, the agency announced Thursday.

Risk is a four-letter word in the banking world these days. “Don’t take any,” is the prudent answer for most financial institutions.

Foreclosure homes accounted for 25% of all residential sales in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 and the average sales price of properties sold in some stage of foreclosure was more than 32% below the average sales price of properties not in the foreclosure process.

The total number of consumer statute lawsuits filed in the Nov. 1-15 period soared to 558, up from 503 in the previous two-week period and 497 in the first half of October, according to data from U.S. District Courts.

The Federal Trade Commission reached settlements late last week to permanently shut down a Web site that allegedly deceptively touted free government grants for personal expenses or paying off debt.

West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw's office is seeking $3.9 million from a payday loan lender for making and collecting payday loans in violation of a court order, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The national mortgage loan delinquency rate fell to 6.44% in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, the largest quarterly decline since the fourth quarter of 2006, according to an analysis by credit bureau TransUnion.