Debt collection

Three years after the FTC won a judgment against mortgage relief defendants, duped consumers will receive checks in the mail.

Consumers are on pace to tally another $55.8 billion in credit card debt this year, despite paying off $34.7 billion in card debt during the first quarter, according to a study.

A lawsuit filed Thursday in New York accuses The College Network and its owner of scamming more than 2,000 New Yorkers, leaving them saddled in debt.

A group of 32 Senate Democrats on Thursday asked Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray to issue the "strongest rules possible" against predatory lending.

Lenders are reporting stronger demand for commercial and private lending over the past two months, according to a report released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Board, continuing a trend of mild-to-moderate improvement in banking fundamentals in recent quarters.

Regulators have made great strides in recent years in crafting responsible underwriting guidelines, developing servicing standards and eliminating products and practices to ensure long-term success for homeowners. But there is a debate as to how best to increase access to credit for qualified borrowers.

The link between debt in collections and local conditions such as access to health insurance and housing markets is strong, according to Signe-Mary McKernan, senior fellow and Co-Director Opportunity and Ownership Initiative at the Urban Institute.

The U.S. Department of Education has ramped up monitoring of ITT Educational Services Inc. after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges against the Indiana-based for-profit college giant and two executives, the company revealed.

Credit reports and credit scores are valuable tools in the financial services industry. But many consumers could use more education in this area.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has fined Bank of America $30 million for allegedly violating consumer protection rights of U.S. military service members while collecting debts.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the state of Florida were granted a final judgment against the Hoffman Law Group and corporate affiliates accused of using deceptive marketing practices and scamming homeowners into paying illegal advance fees.

A joint complaint filed Thursday by federal regulators, if approved by the court, would require Provident Funding Associates to pay $9 million in damages to African-American and Hispanic borrowers for charging higher broker fees on mortgage loans.

A joint complaint filed Thursday by federal regulators, if approved by the court, would require Provident Funding Associates to pay $9 million in damages to African-American and Hispanic borrowers for charging higher broker fees on mortgage loans.

The head of the FCC on Wednesday circulated a fact sheet on a proposal aimed at clarifying robocall regulations, among other issues. While the sheet is light on details, at least one consumer group praised the action.

An Atlanta collection agency will shut down after its owner settled alleged violations of the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act. The deal requires him to stay out of the industry for five years or pay a $445,000 penalty.

More than 71 million consumers had an auto loan in the first quarter, an increase from a year earlier and the largest growth since the economic downturn, according to a new report.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a Florida collection agency for allegedly trying to collect unverified and non-existent debts.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau officially delayed issuing new debt collection rules until at least December, after originally expecting “pre-rule activities” to last through this past April.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is increasingly brandishing a post-crisis tool allowing it to label activities "abusive," but whether financial services firms are closer to understanding the term is still up for debate.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's use of relatively new authority to punish actors for actions considered "abusive" is picking up steam, though the exact meaning of the term is not always easy to grasp.