The Federal Trade Commission today issued its biennial report to Congress on the National Do Not Call Registry. The report notes that more than 244 million consumers have placed their telephone numbers on the Registry. As reported in the FTC's November 2021 National Do Not Call Registry Data Book, the agency received more than five […]
This Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today issued a report on the effect of changes in complaint responses provided by nationwide consumer reporting companies. The CFPB found that the changes resulted in fewer meaningful responses and less consumer relief: In 2021, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion together reported relief in response to less than 2% of covered […]
The National Consumer Law Center has published, here, a list of federal and state consumer law rights scheduled to go into effect or to expire during the period from November 30, 2021, through the end of 2022. Topics include laws related to debt collection, bankruptcy, student loans, and medical debt.
On New Year's Eve, New York's Governor Hochul signed the Fair Consumer Judgment Interest Act, which caps interest rates on money judgments arising out of consumer debt, including medical and student debt, at two percent. The law, which will take effect in four months, will apply to all money judgments arising from consumer debt, including […]
Consumer Reports has this guide to retailers with the best and worst return policies.
The Federal Trade Commission has launched a "rulemaking aimed at combatting government and business impersonation fraud, a pernicious and prevalent problem that has grown worse during the pandemic. Impersonators use all methods of communication to trick their targets into trusting that they are the government or an established business and then trade on this trust […]
From a Federal Trade Commission press release: A group of phantom debt collectors will be permanently banned from the debt collection industry and required to surrender the contents of numerous bank and investment accounts under the terms of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC’s complaint against South Carolina-based National Landmark Logistics, filed […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a series of orders to five companies offering “buy now, pay later” credit. The orders to collect information on the risks and benefits of these fast-growing loans went to Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, and Zip. The CFPB explained that it is concerned about accumulating debt, regulatory arbitrage, and […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a report on wide-ranging violations of law in 2021. The report covers violations in areas including mortgage servicing, fair lending, payday, and remittances. A press release with a link to the report is here.
I first posted about this case about early last month. In releasing documents electronically pursuant to a public records request, a local government body in New Jersey made a rookie error: using software (presumably Word) to perform redactions in a manner that was easily undone when the requester opened the provided PDF documents using his […]