Debt collection

The Federal Trade Commission cautioned the collection industry to avoid buying, selling or collecting any alleged payday loan debt portfolios serviced by AMG Services.

A red light camera company is settling a lawsuit with thousands of drivers in New Mexico. The drivers claimed the company and its collection agency hassled them non-stop after voters in the city canceled the program in 2011 and the cameras were removed.

Last year marked another strong year for the auto loan market as originations increased compared to 2014, while the mix of loans across the entire credit spectrum held for the fourth year in a row, according to Equifax.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated enforcement actions issued in 2010 against American Bank of Baxter Springs in Kansas and CB Financial in Wilson, N.C., and issued one against Hazard Bancorp in Kentucky.

A California federal judge has ordered debt relief company Morgan Drexen Inc. to pay the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau more than $173 million to resolve an August 2013 lawsuit claiming the company collected illegal upfront fees for debt settlement service and ran deceptive advertisements.

An Illinois appeals panel found that collection agency HBLC may have broken federal collection laws by suing a man over a contested debt after the statute of limitations had expired.

Payday loan customers in Alabama would pay less under a bill that won approval Wednesday from the Alabama House Financial Services Committee.

Rising delinquencies in subprime auto lending predictably have drawn comparisons to the mortgage meltdown of nearly a decade ago.

A lawsuit concerning how the court system in Biloxi, Miss. treats poor people who can’t pay fine won’t continue after the city, the American Civil Liberties Union and a private probation service agreed Tuesday to settle the case.

Signs of the subprime mortgage crisis were obvious long before the 2008 meltdown. Some recognized the danger but most dismissed the threats, arguing that a decline in home values would never happen. Other signs of distress went unnoticed or unappreciated.

Many people - across all age groups - lack retirement savings.

The Russian cabinet has reportedly approved a bill that would impose restrictions on collection agencies, including banning "psychological pressure" and the disclosure of debtors' personal information to a third party.

The CFPB wants a federal district court to enter a final judgment to shut down a student debt relief scheme that allegedly charged borrowers millions of dollars in illegal upfront fees for federal student loan services.

The Education Department could ban colleges from including mandatory arbitration clauses in student enrollment agreements. The proposal is part of ongoing rule-making talks focused on creating a new debt relief process for defrauded student loan borrowers.

The last individual defendant in a mortgage modification scam is banned from selling debt relief and mortgage-related products and services and from telemarketing under a court order obtained by the Federal Trade Commission.

Consumers' expectations about earnings, income and spending improved in February, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest Survey of Consumer Expectations.

China is testing a program that allows banks with bad loans to sell that debt to investors, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The Justice Department is notifying state and municipal court systems in a letter sent Monday that defendants who fail to pay fines or fees shouldn’t be jailed. The letter warns that such practices run afoul of the Constitution and harm trust within communities.

A top CFPB official said student loan companies are at risk of breaking the law if they place people in default when the co-signer of their loan dies or declares bankruptcy. The CFPB’s latest Supervisory Highlights report focuses on problems in the student loan industry.

There are more than 43 million student loan borrowers in the U.S., owing nearly $1.3 trillion dollars of debt. The National Foundation for Credit Counseling believes those numbers make it a hotbed for debt relief scams and NFCC officials are warning student borrowers about falling victim.