Category Archives: Debt Collection

Consumer Debt Litigation Index and Report

The National Center for Access to Justice at Fordham Law School has posted a report and online resource that ranks the 50 states and the District of Columbia on their adoption of policies promoting fairness in consumer debt litigation. The report notes that debt-collection lawsuits inundate courts across the country. Because many suits go unanswered, […]

Third Circuit Finds No Standing Where Creditor Shared Info With Mail Vendor

Paulette Barclift sued Keystone Credit Services after Keystone shared certain personal information with a mailing vendor that it hired to mail her a collection notice. Barclift never authorized Keystone to share that information with third parties, and thus sued for violating the FDCPA’s provisions on unauthorized communications. The district court held that Barclift had not […]

Third Circuit finds confusing collection letters provide standing, but not informational standing

Jamie Huber brought a putative class action under the FDCPA, alleging that confusing collection letters she received from Simon’s Agency, Inc. were misleading and deceptive. A district court certified a class, and granted summary judgment in its favor. In so doing, it found that Ms. Huber had standing based on an informational injury, and that […]

Raba report on the burdens of debt collection litigation

Claire Johnson Raba of the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law and California, Irvine has written One-Sided Litigation: Lessons from Civil Docket Data in California Debt Collection Lawsuits. Here’s the abstract: A study by Claire Johnson Raba, a researcher with the Debt Collection Lab, shows that debt cases are an increasing burden on consumers and […]

Split Ninth Circuit Rejects Challenge to Nevada Medical Debt Law

In June 2021, Nevada enacted a law that requires debt collectors to provide written notification to debtors 60 days before taking any action to collect a medical debt.  Debt collectors sought a preliminary injunction against the law, claiming it violated the First Amendment, was unconstitutionally vague, and was preempted by the FCRA and the FDCPA.  […]

7th Circuit Holds Time and Money to Send Debt Validation Request Supports Standing

Yvonne Mack received a debt collection notice, referring to a US Bank credit card she had held. She was uncertain that the debt amount was accurate, and thus a submitted a request for validation of the debt via certified mail. She received no response. She then received a second debt collection notice. Confused, she went […]

CFPB charges Portfolio Recovery Associates with continued illegal debt collection practices and consumer reporting violations

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took action this week against Portfolio Recovery Associates, one of the largest debt collectors in the nation, for violating a 2015 CFPB order and engaging in other violations of law. The CFPB’s proposed order, if entered by the court, would require Portfolio Recovery Associates to pay more than $12 million […]

Report: Visa sends new rules to collectors about consumer debt

Debt collectors and debt buyers should have basic facts about a consumer debt before contacting consumers or filing lawsuits against them to collect on the debt. But blatantly wrong information about accounts has long been one of the major, persistent problems in debt collection. It appears Visa recently issued a rule that touches on the […]

Can downstream creditors collect deficiency judgments on mortgage loans a decade or more after the foreclosure?

The question in the case, Santos v. Yellowfin Loan Servicing Corp., No. 22-0910 (Tex. S. Ct.),  is whether a claim to collect a deficiency judgment on a second mortgage accrues when that judgment is entered or whenever in the future the lender (or its successor in interest) decides to “accelerate” the original mortgage loan. Lenders […]

CFPB reports 1/3 decline in collections items on consumer credit reports

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a report examining trends in credit reporting of debt in collections from 2018 to 2022. The report finds that the total number of collections tradelines on credit reports declined by 33%, from 261 million tradelines in 2018 to 175 million tradelines in 2022. The share of consumers with […]