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DOJ Announces Arrests and Charges Against Debt Collection Company
On November 19, the DOJ issued a press release announcing charges against six employees of a Georgia-based debt collection company for allegedly running a $4.1 million dollar debt collection scam. According to the press release, from approximately 2009 to May 2014, the accused employees allegedly falsely represented themselves as affiliated with various law enforcement agencies, and made a variety of false statements to consumers in an attempt to coerce them into making payments to the debt collection company. The action appears to be the first case in which multiple federal agencies – U.S. Attorneys’ Office, CFPB, FBI, and the FTC - have taken a coordinated action against a debt collector. The complaint was filed in the Southern District of New York.
CFPB And FTC To Hold Roundtable On Debt Collection In The Latino Community
On October 23, the CFPB and the FTC will hold a roundtable to discuss the effects of debt collection and credit reporting in the Latino community. The event will focus on the customers with limited English proficiency, and is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Long Beach, CA.
FCC Settles With Large Mobile Telephone Company In Connection With Hidden Third-Party Charges
On October 8, the FCC announced a $105 million settlement – the largest in the agency’s history – with a mobile telephone company to resolve allegations that the company engaged in unauthorized billing practices. According to the FCC, the company charged customers for third-party services, such as subscriptions for ringtones, wallpapers, and certain premium text messages, for which they did not sign up. Many customers contested the charges, only to discover that the company either refused to issue refunds or refunded them for only one or two months. Under the terms of the settlement, which the FCC negotiated with the FTC and the attorney generals of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the company must pay $80 million to the current and former customers affected by its billing practices, $20 million to the state governments involved in the settlement, and $5 million to the U.S. Treasury.
FTC Announces Settlements Against Debt Collection Practice And Its Principals
On September 23, the Federal Trade Commission released a statement announcing the settlement of claims and a default judgment against a debt collection operation based out of Atlanta and Cleveland and its principals, barring them from debt collection activities and subjecting the defendants to a judgment of over $9.3 million. According to the release, the defendants violated FDCPA by threatening consumers with legal action unless they rendered payment on debts that the consumer, in many cases, did not actually owe. The defendants were alleged to use fictitious business names that implied affiliation with a law firm to harass consumers, through robocalls and voicemails, to make payments on these non-existent debts.
Federal Appeals Court Upholds District Court Order Barring Telemarketers From Selling Mortgage And Debt Relief Programs
This month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a decision to uphold the District Court of Northern Ohio’s earlier ruling prohibiting the defendants from selling false mortgage assistance and debt relief programs through a telemarketing scheme. F.T.C. v. E.M.A. Nationwide, Inc., No. 1:12-CV-2394 (N.D. Ohio Aug. 27, 2013). Since at least mid-2010, the defendants were allegedly deceiving consumers by promising that the programs would “help them pay, reduce, or restructure their mortgage and other debts.” According to the FTC’s press release, in September 2012, the defendants were charged with violations of: (i) the FTC Act; (ii) the Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule; and (iii) the Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule. The court ordered the defendants to jointly pay restitution of more than $5.7 million to the consumers affected by the fraudulent practices.
Mortgage Lead Generator Will Pay $500,000 to Settle FTC Charges about False Ads
On September 12, a mortgage refinancing lead generator, Intermundo Media, LLC (doing business as Delta Prime Refinance), agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty, among other things, to settle the FTC’s allegations that the company produced and distributed false advertisements that misrepresented to consumers that they could refinance their mortgages at no cost. The FTC’s complaint alleged that Intermundo’s advertisements violated the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Mortgage Acts and Practices Advertising Rule, or “MAP” Rule, and Regulation N, and the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z. The advertisements, which were published on the company’s own website, as well as websites such as Google, Microsoft, AOL, and Yahoo!, allegedly exaggerated the amount that consumers could reduce their payments if they refinanced their mortgages, the amount that their refinanced APR would be, and how easy it would be to qualify for refinancing. Some of the advertisements falsely claimed that there were no fees associated with the refinancing, and other advertisements claimed that fixed interest rates were available, when the rates actually were variable. As part of the settlement, Intermundo will pay a $500,000 civil penalty and will be enjoined from committing further violations and from selling, disclosing or transferring the consumer data obtained through the Delta Prime Refinance lead generation service. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, and the proposed consent decree, which contains the terms of the settlement, is subject to court approval.
CFPB Interagency Agreement Increases Oversight Of Colleges Serving Veterans
Recently, the CFPB signed a memorandum of understanding with the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense and Education to improve outreach and transparency to veterans and servicemembers by providing meaningful information to help them make informed decisions when selecting an institution of higher learning, including access to financial cost and performance outcome information. These improvements for military educational benefit recipients are designed to prevent deceptive recruiting practices and ensure that educational institutions provide high-quality academic and support services to veterans and servicemembers. Specifically, the agreement requires the CFPB to (i) designate the Assistant Director for Servicemember Affairs, Holly Petraeus, as the point of contact for information sharing processes among the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense and Education; (ii) alert agencies to patterns of noncompliance; and (iii) provide complaint data to the FTC. On August 26, the CFPB issued a press release describing this agreement as a means to better protect veterans, servicemembers, and their family members attending college by carrying out “a comprehensive strategy to strengthen enforcement and compliance work.” The agreement is effective July 18, 2014.
Interagency Guidance Regarding Unfair Or Deceptive Credit Practices
On August 22, the CFPB and the federal banking agencies (Fed, OCC, FDIC and NCUA) issued interagency guidance regarding unfair or deceptive credit practices (UDAP). The guidance clarifies that “the repeal of the credit practices rules applicable to banks, savings associations, and federal credit unions is not a determination that the prohibited practices contained in those rules are permissible.” Notwithstanding the repeal of these rules, the agencies preserve supervisory and enforcement authority regarding UDAP. Consequently, the guidance cautions that “depending on the facts and circumstances, if banks, savings associations and Federal credit unions engage in the unfair or deceptive practices described in the former credit practices rules, such conduct may violate the prohibition against unfair or deceptive practices in Section 5 of the FTC Act and Sections 1031 and 1036 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The Agencies may determine that statutory violations exist even in the absence of a specific regulation governing the conduct.” The guidance also explains that the FTC Rule remains in effect for creditors within the FTC’s jurisdiction, and can be enforced by the CFPB against creditors that fall under the CFPB’s enforcement authority.
FTC Finalizes Mobile Application Privacy Settlements
On August 19, the FTC approved final orders resolving allegations that two companies: (i) misrepresented the level of security of their mobile applications; and (ii) failed to secure the transmission of millions of consumers’ sensitive personal information. The FTC alleged that one company’s application assured consumers that their credit card information was stored and transmitted securely even though the company disabled a higher level of security validation, which allowed such credit card information to be intercepted. In addition, the company allegedly failed to have an adequate process for receiving vulnerability reports from security researchers and other third parties. The FTC alleged that the second company also disabled enhanced security validation despite claiming that it followed industry-leading security precautions, which also left consumers’ information vulnerable to interception. The final settlement orders require both companies to establish comprehensive programs designed to address security risks during the development of their applications and to undergo independent security assessments every other year for the next 20 years. The settlements also prohibit the companies from misrepresenting the level of privacy or security of their products and services.
Consumer Protection Organization Petitions FTC To Enforce U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework
On August 14, the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) announced that it filed a complaint with the FTC claiming that 30 U.S. companies are compiling, using, and sharing EU consumers’ personal information without their awareness and meaningful consent, in violation the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework. The U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework established a self-certification program that allows a company to collect information from European consumers without strictly following the EU’s more stringent data protection standards, provided the company (i) provides clear notice of their data-collection practices and data uses; and (ii) allows consumers to “opt-out” of data collection practices to which they did not previously agree. According to its press release, the CDD wants the FTC to investigate the companies for “relying on exceedingly brief, vague, or obtuse descriptions of their data collection practices, even though [U.S.-EU] Safe Harbor requires meaningful transparency and candor.” The complaint identifies several broad concerns that the CDD claims illustrate the inadequacy of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework, including: (i) the failure of U.S.-EU Safe Harbor declarations and required privacy policies to provide accurate and meaningful information to EU consumers; (ii) a lack of transparency by companies about their data collection; and (iii) the failure of companies to provide meaningful opt-out mechanisms. The FTC has already taken more than a dozen actions this year to enforce the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework.