The Federal Trade Commission reports that it has received more than 91,000 coronavirus-related complaints from consumers. More than half (47,881) are about fraud.
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
DC's Attorney General today filed a lawsuit against Elevate, an online lender, for deceptively marketing high-cost loans carrying interest rates far above the District’s cap on interest rates. According to the complaint, Elevate is not a licensed moneylender in the District but offered two kinds of short-term loan products with interest rates of between 99 […]
Bloomberg reports that a "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau task force that has been criticized in the past for its pro-business leanings stands to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars to offer advice on how to 'harmonize and modernize' federal laws aimed at protecting the public." The full story is here.
A new report from Pew describes how debt collection lawsuits have transformed state courts. Among the report's findings: Fewer people are using the courts for civil cases. Debt claims grew to dominate state civil court dockets in recent decades. People sued for debts rarely have legal representation, but those who do tend to have better […]
Yesterday, on behalf of a class of student borrowers, the National Consumer Law Center and Student Defense, with the support of the Student Borrower Protection Center, filed a class action lawsuit against the Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos in federal district court in DC. The suit alleges that the Department is illegally garnishing […]
We posted two weeks ago that the Federal Trade Commission had sent warning letters to more than 25 companies to stop making unsubstantiated claims that their products could prevent or treat COVID-19 Last Thursday, the FTC sent 21 additional letters warning marketers throughout the United States to stop making unsubstantiated claims that their products and […]
The National Consumer Law Center has published a list of recommendations for actions that states can take to reduce the economic impact of COVID-19 on consumers and their families. The document summarizes NCLC's more detailed recommendations on auto finance, credit reporting, criminal justice debt, debt collection, medical debt, mortgage relief, preventing garnishment of stimulus checks, […]
The Federal Trade commission has sent warning letters to more than 25 companies to stop making unsubstantiated claims that their products could prevent or treat COVID-19. Fox Business reports here. The FTC's latest press release on the problem is here.
This week, the Treasury Department will begin to send out the $1,200 CARES Act payments that Congress approved in response to the coronavirus crisis. The money will be wired to eligible recipients who previously authorized the IRS to post their refunds through direct deposit. The American Prospect reports, though that "Congress did not exempt CARES […]
The Washington Post reports: "The U.S. Education Department is promising to process student loan forgiveness claims for nearly 170,000 borrowers within 18 months as part of a proposed settlement announced Friday in a federal lawsuit. The suit alleges that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos illegally stalled a program known as borrower defense to repayment, which promises […]