Debt Collector
Debt collection agency Victim Services Inc, accused of charging illegal fees, settled a class action lawsuit on Friday for $1.1 million, including attorneys’ fees and court costs.
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Supreme Court Nixes Robocall Exception for Federal Loans
The Supreme Court on Monday struck down an exception for government debt collection in a federal ban on robocalls, though it declined the invitation of a group of political professionals to strike down the ban entirely.
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Feds Accused of Holding Back Tax Refunds Over Student Debt
The Trump administration has kept up collecting on federal student loan debt during the Covid-19 pandemic by withholding urgently needed tax refunds, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Washington federal court.
Read moreDebt Collection
A credit-and-collection industry group won a temporary restraining order in a federal court in Massachusetts to enjoin the state’s attorney general from enacting certain provisions of her emergency regulation intended to protect consumers from harmful debt collection practices during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Robocallers Stumble in High Court Bid for Cellphone Access
A techno-gaffe from Justice Stephen Breyer closed the circle Wednesday as the Supreme Court ended its first week of remote arguments with little sympathy for political consultants hampered by the federal ban on robocalling cellphones.
Read moreDebt Collectors
An association of debt collectors sued Massachusetts in federal court, claiming its emergency regulation against debt collections during the Covid-19 pandemic is illegal and unconstitutional.
Read moreBad Manners
Columbia Debt Recovery, of Everett, Wash., violated collections law by sending a woman a text message stating: “Bitch your stupid af, and ur getting sued dumb ass,” she claims in federal court.
Read moreCollections Class Action
Midland Credit Management obtained hundreds of arbitration awards in Florida without “offering any evidence that an arbitration agreement existed between the parties and without being licensed to collect debts in Florida,” a class action claims in Palm Beach County Court.
Read moreLoan Servicing
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a contempt sanction against Ocwen Loan Servicing in a case brought by debtors who claim they suffered severe emotional distress by receiving letters and phone calls from the company about the home they had abandoned to foreclosure before filing for bankruptcy. A bankruptcy court had concluded the company violated the debtors’ discharge injunction.
Read moreSupreme Court to Tackle Bankruptcy Repossessions
Taking up a case involving four men whose cars were impounded over scads of traffic tickets, the Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to determine whether filing for bankruptcy can undo a lawful repossession.
Read moreHigh Court Clears Debt Collector on Long-Delayed Suit
Siding with a debt collector, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a man who didn’t know he was being sued over a $1,200 credit card debt missed the time window to sue.
Read moreDebt Collector Beats Bulk of DA Letterhead Lawsuit
A debt collector did not break the law by using government seals and letterheads to get people who bounced checks to pay restitution and take classes, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, but the company may have charged illegal fees.
Read moreStudent Debt
A federal judge refused General Revenue Corp.’s request to dismiss a class action accusing it of using illegal tactics to collect on student loans.
Read moreCourt Balks at Unencrypted Collection-Letter Barcodes
Collection letters stamped with barcodes that pull up account numbers when scanned are just as illegal as printing the account numbers on the envelopes, the Third Circuit ruled Monday.
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Appeals Court Probes QR Code With Private Data
A company found to have violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by enclosing collections letters in coded envelopes pushed the Third Circuit for a reversal Thursday.
Read moreSupremes Set Sanctions Rule for Bankruptcy Collections
Creditors can be held in contempt, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday, if they go after debts that objectively appear to have been discharged in bankruptcy.
Read moreHigh Court Agrees to Limit Removal of Class Actions
Offering a narrow view of procedures governing class actions, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Tuesday that a new defendant cannot remove such a case from state to federal court after an original defendant files a counterclaim bringing in the new party.
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