Consumer lending

The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday accusing Biloxi, Mississippi officials of jailing people if they did not pay their court fees and fines.

In Minnesota, Anoka-Hennepin School District officials plan to hire a collection agency to pursue approximately $160,000 in unpaid breakfast and lunch money.

NARCA held elections for secretary, treasurer and board of directors at the NARCA 2015 Fall Collection Conference in Washington, D.C. While the secretary and treasurer positions were uncontested, ten NARCA members ran for six board seats.

The third-largest county in Tennessee is looking to hire Ohio-based collection agency Capital Recovery Systems to help it pursue a combined $160 million that offenders owe in fines, fees and court costs.

The operators of an alleged tech support scam agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they tricked consumers into paying millions of dollars for technical support services they did not need and software that was otherwise free.

Consumer litigation against collection agencies had mixed results in September with Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuits dropping and Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation making a jump.

Companies of all types are turning to social media — Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and beyond — as well as tracking cookies for clues about customers' behavior, identity, preferences, habits and "life events."

Springleaf's proposed acquisition of Citi's OneMain Holdings is being delayed by the Justice Department, which appears focused on preserving competition at the local level — even as a raft of new subprime installment lenders are popping up on the Web.

A blog post published Monday by the New York Fed offered the embattled payday lending industry a rare show of regulatory support.

Fannie Mae plans to make several changes that could help more consumers, including those with little credit history, qualify for a home loan.