Collector Facing FDCPA Suit Over Calls Placed After Chapter 7 Filing
- Four days after the Chapter 7 petition hit, the Bankruptcy Noticing Center allegedly sent word. The next day, the phone rang anyway. Two more calls followed, both leaving voicemails carefully scrubbed of any mention of a debt, which the plaintiff says was its own kind of problem. Four FDCPA counts, and a timeline that leaves very little room to maneuver.
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Bill Would Strip Litigating Attorneys From FDCPA Debt Collector Definition
- A new House bill with 29 cosponsors would carve litigating attorneys out of the FDCPA’s debt collector definition entirely, and that is only Section 204. It also freezes CFPB abusiveness enforcement until a rule is written, hands companies a 180-day cure window, drops the top penalty tier from $1 million to roughly $50,000, and would require consumers to swear out complaints under penalty of perjury. Earned wage access providers get their own provision, and it is not a friendly one.
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Judge Partially Grants Plaintiff’s MSJ in Failure to Note Dispute Case
- The dispute letter went to the collection agency. The tradeline went to the bureau without a dispute flag. The debt buyer argued the agency never passed the letter along, that it was barely operating anyway, and that Henson got it off the hook. A Kansas judge took apart all three, then found the bona fide error defense had no evidence behind it at all. The case is headed to a jury on damages.
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‘Written Off’ and ‘Charged Off’ Mean the Same Thing, Judge Rules
- A consumer argued that a tradeline calling a $12,031 balance “written off” while still reporting it as past due sent contradictory signals about whether he still owed the money. An EDNY judge disagreed, and had a pointed answer for what would happen if charge-off meant forgiveness. She also had something to say about the missing payment history, and it is a line furnishers will want to keep handy.
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Ex-CFPB Examiner Takes the Bureau to Federal Court Over a Shredder and a Fan
- A retired examiner with 37 years of federal service is in the Southern District of New York, representing himself, over a Fellowes shredder and a pedestal fan left behind when the CFPB’s field offices went dark. The Bureau says it would like to give them back. He is asking for $4,407 and has told the court he is prepared to litigate “forever.” The judge had a gentle suggestion about sunk costs.
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Former CFPB Supervision Chief Urges States to Build In-House Policy Offices
- With the CFPB in retreat, two former regulators are pitching states on a new kind of supervisory shop staffed by attorneys alongside technologists who would recreate credit decisioning models, run product tests and write examiner checklists hunting for dark patterns. Debt collectors are already inside the licensing perimeter this blueprint is built on. It even comes with a funding plan that skips the legislature.
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Friendly Fraud Accounts for 44% of Chargebacks, Chargebacks911 Report Finds
- More than 250 merchants weighed in, and 83.4% of the enterprise crowd say friendly fraud is worse than it was three years ago. The vendor’s own numbers suggest merchants are still lowballing it. The part worth reading twice: what merchants actually get back when they fight, and how many of them have no idea whether their own employees are in on it.
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WORTH NOTING: Who is accountable when an AI agent goes rogue? … People are likely to spend less on their football fixes this Fall, but many are still going into debt for their love of the game, according to LendingTree … How the demographics of state legislatures have changed over time … When it comes to young drivers, worrying about speeding might not be the right behavior to be concerned about … Most homeowners are in love with their current homes … A look at the biggest wins and losses for Tim Cook during his 15 years running Apple … How to get work done when the kids are home with you … Experts share tips on how to help you find things you have lost.
Trailer Tuesday, part I
Trailer Tuesday, part II
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