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FTC Announces Agenda, Panel Topics for Debt Collection Dialogue
On November 12, the FTC announced the topics for its November 18 Debt Collection Dialogue in Atlanta, which will have two panels. The first panel, “State Regulation and Enforcement of Debt Collection,” will include representatives from state law enforcement agencies and industry. The second panel, “Federal Regulation and Enforcement of Debt Collection,” will feature representatives from the FTC, the CFPB, and the OCC. Panelists will discuss enforcement actions, consumer complaints, compliance issues, and industry best practices.
FTC Partners with Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement Agencies to Announce Nationwide "Crackdown" on Abusive Debt Collection
On November 4, the FTC announced the first coordinated federal, state, and local initiative to combat alleged abusive and deceptive debt collection practices, Operation Collection Protection. This announcement included authorities listing 30 new actions, including five enforcement actions by the FTC. These actions targeted the following practices: (i) extracting payments from consumers by using intimidation and inaccurate representations; (ii) impersonating servers or attorneys and threatening arrest or litigation; and (iii) collecting on debts that never existed or had already been paid. These cases bring the total number of actions taken under the Operation Collection Protection initiative this year to 115 and the total number of participating law enforcement partners to 70.
CFPB Takes Action against Indirect Auto Lender over its Debt Collection Practices
On October 1, the CFPB ordered an indirect auto lender and its auto title lending subsidiary to pay more than $48 million in restitution and consumer relief over allegations that both companies engaged in unlawful debt collection practices. The CFPB alleged that the companies used a variety of “deceptive” tactics to coerce borrowers into making payments on their remaining loan amounts. The CFPB further asserted that the companies provided inaccurate information in their advertisements to borrowers regarding monthly interest rates, and misled borrowers about the effect of changing payment due dates or the ramifications of extending loan terms, which resulted in additional accrued interest owed over the life of the loan. Under terms of the consent order, the companies agreed to, among other things, provide $44.1 million in restitution and loan balance reductions to affected borrowers and pay a $4.25 million civil money penalty.
CFPB Sues World Law Group Over Illegal Fees and False Promises in Debt-Relief Scheme
On September 15, the CFPB announced a preliminary injunction obtained against World Law Group and its senior leaders for allegedly running a debt-relief scheme that charged consumers costly and illegal upfront fees. According to the CFPB, “the debt-relief scheme falsely promised consumers a team of attorneys to help negotiate debt settlements with creditors, failed to provide legal representation, and rarely settled consumers’ debts.” Specifically, the complaint alleges that defendants charged consumers upfront fees before providing debt-relief services in violation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The complaint also alleges that World Law Group falsely promised legal representation to consumers who did not receive the promised legal representation. The underlying lawsuit remains pending following the granting of the preliminary injunction.
CFPB Issues Consent Orders Regarding Debt Collection Practices
On September 9, the CFPB ordered the two largest U.S. debt buyers and collectors to pay a combined total of nearly $80 million in civil penalties and consumer restitution related to their debt collection practices. The CFPB alleged that both companies, among other things, engaged in robo-signing, sued (or threatened to sue) on stale debt, made inaccurate statements to consumers, and engaged in other illegal collection practices. In particular, the CFPB criticized the practice of purchasing debts without obtaining important documentation or information about the debt, or verifying to ensure the debts were accurate and enforceable before commencing collection activities. Under the consent orders, one company agreed to provide up to $42 million in consumer refunds, pay a $10 million civil money penalty, and cease collecting on a portfolio of consumer debt with a face value of over $125 million. The other company agreed to provide $19 million in restitution, pay an $8 million civil money penalty, and cease collecting on a consumer debt portfolio with a face value of over $3 million. In addition, both companies are also generally prohibited from reselling consumer debt. In prepared remarks announcing the enforcement action, CFPB Director Richard Cordray noted, “the terms of the orders will help reform and improve the tactics and approaches” within the debt collection market. The CFPB’s action comes as the industry anticipates the CFPB’s issuance of new debt collection rules.
CFPB Consumer Complaints Database Goes Live with Option to Publish Narratives
Today, the CFPB expanded its consumer complaint database, publishing for the first time over 7,700 consumer narratives which provide descriptive details of issues consumers face with respect to mortgages, bank accounts, credit cards, and debt collection, among other topics. As previously covered in InfoBytes, the Bureau finalized its Policy earlier this year requiring consumers who file complaints to “opt-in” to have the actual narrative of the complaint disclosed in the CFPB consumer complaint database. In addition, the Bureau issued a Request For Information seeking feedback on how complaint information contained within the database can be more easily identified and “normalized.” The Bureau also announced that it had received more than 627,000 complaints as of June 1, with mortgages and debt collection among the most frequent sources of complaints.
CFPB Publishes Eighth Edition of Supervisory Highlights
On June 23, the CFPB published its eighth edition of Supervisory Highlights, covering supervisory activities from January 2015 through April 2015. The latest edition identifies issues with dual-tracking at mortgage servicers and the need for improved quality control measures at consumer reporting agencies. The report also provided supervisory observations related to debt collection, student loan servicing, mortgage origination and servicing, and fair lending. Notably, the report reveals that non-public supervisory actions and self-reported violations at banks and nonbanks in the areas of mortgage origination, fair lending, mortgage servicing, deposits, payday lending, and debt collection resulted in $11.6 million in remediation to more than 80,000 consumers during the first four months of 2015.
CFPB Cracks Down on Medical Debt Collector Over Alleged FCRA and FDCPA Violations
On June 18, the CFPB announced an enforcement action against a third-party medical debt collection company for allegedly failing to issue debt validation notices to customers, mishandling consumer credit reporting disputes, and preventing customers from exercising certain debt collection rights. According to the Bureau, from 2011 through 2013, the company failed to properly investigate consumers’ complaints with respect to information furnished to credit reporting agencies, and lacked internal policies and procedures on how to handle and respond to the complaints, resulting in a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In addition, the Bureau contends that the company did not properly inform consumers of the amount of medical debt owed before commencing efforts to obtain payment on the debt, subsequently violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The CFPB ordered the medical debt collector to, among other things, (i) provide over $5 million in restitution to affected consumers, (ii) correct errors in consumer credit reports, (iii) pay a $500,000 civil money penalty, and (iv) improve its business practices.
2nd Circuit Reinstates Consumer Class Action Against National Debt Buyer Through Preemption Decision
On May 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against a debt collection firm, holding that “non-national bank entities are not entitled to protections under the National Bank Act (“NBA”) from state-law usury claims merely because they are assignees of a national bank.” Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC, No. 14-2131-cv, 2015 WL 2435657 (2nd Cir. May 22, 2015). The Second Circuit’s holding reversed the Southern District of New York’s decision, which held that it was permissible for the firm to charge a consumer an interest rate of 27%—a rate exceeding New York’s 25% usury limit—because the firm was an assignee of a national bank. The Second Circuit vacated the District Court’s judgment “[b]ecause neither defendant is a national bank nor a subsidiary or agent of a national bank, or is otherwise acting on behalf of a national bank, and because application of the state law on which [the plaintiff’s] claim relies would not significantly interfere with any national bank’s ability to exercise its powers under the NBA.” Id. at *1. According to the court, extending “NBA preemption to third-party debt collectors such as the defendants would be an overly broad application of the NBA” which “would create an end-run around usury laws for non-national bank entities that are not acting on behalf of a national bank.” Id. at *5. The Second Circuit also vacated the District Court’s judgment as to the plaintiff’s FDCPA claim and the denial of class certification because those rulings were predicated on the District Court’s preemption analysis. The case, which has been argued on the premise that New York state usury law applies, has been remanded back to the district court to determine choice-of-law based on a Delaware choice-of-law clause in the original debt agreement.
Ninth Circuit: California Law Allows Prejudgment Interest Demand Without Judgment on Debt
On May 12, the Ninth Circuit held that a debt collection letter did not violate the FDCPA or California’s Rosenthal Act where the amount of the debt was certain, even though the debt collector had not yet obtained a judgment. Diaz v. Kubler Corp., 2015 WL 2214634 (9th Cir. May 12, 2015). The debt collector sent a collection letter demanding that the debtor pay an amount reflecting the principal owed plus interest at an annual rate of 10%, which was the rate set forth in California law for contracts that do not stipulate a legal rate of interest. The district court granted summary judgment, holding that the debt collector could not seek to collect prejudgment interest at the statutory rate without first obtaining a judgment for breach of contract. Therefore, the court held, the debt collector had violated the FDCPA and the Rosenthal Act by attempting to collect an amount not authorized by the contract creating the debt or permitted by law. The Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that California Civil Code §3287(a) allows recovery of prejudgment interest from the time that the creditor’s right to recover is “vested,” which occurs at the time “the amount of damages become certain or capable of being made certain, not the time liability to pay those amounts is determined.” Damages “become certain or capable of being made certain” when “there is essentially no dispute between the parties concerning the basis of computation of damages if any are recoverable but where their dispute centers on the issue of liability giving rise to damage.” At that time, prejudgment interest becomes available as a matter of right. Accordingly, the debt collector’s demand for prejudgment interest did not violate the FDCPA or the Rosenthal Act.