Debt collection

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took action Wednesday against the nation’s two largest debt buyers and collectors for allegedly using deceptive tactics to collect bad debts.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau imposed up to $79 million in penalties and refunds Wednesday in enforcement actions against the country's two largest debt buyers.

Americans had 314 million credit card accounts during the first three months of the year, the highest number since the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Council of Better Business Bureaus released data showing that collection agencies received 21,576 complaints from consumers last year, the fifth most complained about financial sector.

Consumer borrowing rose by $19.1 billion in July, pushing the total to a record $3.45 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve.

Prestige Financial Services, a privately held subprime auto lender, is looking to spark growth by offering credit directly to consumers over the Internet.

California’s Court of Appeal has blocked a class-action lawsuit against against collection agency GC Services.

A partnership between collection agency ConServe in Fairport, N.Y. and Rochester Rehabilitation in Rochester, N.Y. is aiming to help employ people with disadvantages.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is continuing to find cases of lenders steering minority borrowers into higher-cost loans three years after the agency forced several large banks into landmark settlements cracking down on the practice, according to a top DOJ official.

A mortgage relief services company and its owner agreed Thursday to settle allegations that they illegally charged homeowners an upfront fee for help they promised but never provided.

The San Francisco company hopes to lower its costs by driving out human intervention as much as possible. To get there, it has made the counterintuitive decision to locate its operations staff in one of the country’s most expensive cities.

A recent poll shows that since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was established in 2011, consumers don’t feel it has improved their lives but some believe the regulator should have more oversight.

Banks are seeing steady growth in consumer loan demand nationwide, particularly in auto loans and mortgages, according to a report released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Board.

The FTC's debt collection dialogue event set for Dallas later this month has been moved to a larger venue to accommodate demand. The goal of the series is to share information promoting fair collection practices.

The federal government hopes to convince banks to make more mortgage loans to risky borrowers after several costly disputes over a federal loan program led some to determine it wasn’t worth the trouble.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office said the state has won a $194,500 default judgment against a company that failed to respond to a federal lawsuit alleging violations of consumer protection laws.

The Mortgage Bankers Association sent a letter to the CFPB on Monday asking the regulator to overhaul its consumer complaint database that publishes unverified complaint narratives against mortgage companies and servicers.

A new battle is brewing between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the government-sponsored enterprises set out to boost their purchases of low down payment loans.

Using an expanded view of credit data allowed collection agencies and debt buyers to increase their recovered dollars by up to 9%, according to a new study.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General issued a report stating the department failed to hold a student loan management company accountable for correcting deficiencies in its collection system.