Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Settles with Cash Express

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) today announced a settlement with Cash Express, LLC, a small-dollar lender based in Cookeville, Tenn., that offers high-cost, short-term loans, such as payday and title loans, as well as check-cashing services. Cash Express owns and operates approximately 328 retail lending outlets in four states: Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi. 

FDIC chair: Risk has shifted from banks to mortgage servicers

One of the nation’s top bank regulators says the banking system is safe, but worries about risks at non-bank financial institutions, particularly mortgage servicers. The remarks from Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Jelena McWilliams come days after regulators freed the last “too big to fail” non-bank from extra regulation.

Building Loyalty with Gen Z and Millennials Starts with a Better Experience

What is the price of loyalty? In an era where consumer preferences are changing, garnering customer loyalty is more valuable than ever before. To explore loyalty trends, especially among Gen Z and Millennial consumers, TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) today released a new report, "Consumer First: The Path Forward in Financial Services," during the Money 20/20 conference. Studying loyalty dynamics is critically important, as consumers find themselves with an unprecedented wealth of diverse options available when it comes to financial services.

Fintech Leaders to face Senate Inquiry

On 17 October 2018, the Senate resolved to refer certain credit service providers, including payday lenders, fintech “buy now, pay later” providers and credit repair agencies to the Senate Economics References Committee for inquiry. Under the proposed terms of reference, the inquiry will look at:

Rethinking privacy in the age of AI

Autonomous technologies driven by artificial intelligence (AI) are already being deployed for new life-enhancing and potentially life-saving uses such as disease detection, precision medicine, driving assistance, increased productivity, safety at work and education accessibility. While these developments are important and exciting, they also present new concerns over privacy, data security and ethics. Many of these issues will be discussed at the 40th International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners Conference (ICDPPC), which will focus on ethics in a data-driven age and explore how to ensure dignity and fairness to individuals.

Enhanced Fraud Suite Unifies Personal and Digital Identities

TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) together with iovation, a TransUnion company, today announced at Money20/20 the launch of IDVision with iovation, an enhanced suite of identity management, authentication and fraud prevention solutions that protect businesses from fraud while enabling great experiences for their online users.

FTC Announces PrivacyCon 2019 and Calls for Presentations

As part of its efforts to address evolving privacy and data security challenges, the Federal Trade Commission is announcing a call for presentations for its fourth annual PrivacyCon, to be held on June 27, 2019.  PrivacyCon 2019 aims to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, including researchers, academics, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and government regulators, to discuss the latest research and trends related to consumer privacy and data security. 

The student loan bubble might be about to pop

Amid headlines of record-low unemployment and a bullish economy, millennials burdened with student loans lurk behind the scenes. Their vast sums of debt are not reflected in the current description of the economy, but have implications for its future.

Bureau releases Complaint snapshot: 50 state report

Every day, people across the country submit complaints to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. The complaints are about a wide variety of consumer financial products and services, from checking accounts to auto loans. Like the states they call home, each person’s complaint is different.  Today, we released our Complaint snapshot: 50 state report, which illustrates both the unique—and shared—challenges reported by people in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Here are some highlights from our latest report. Since Jan. 1, 2015:

CASE UPDATE: Attorney General Shapiro Announces Win in Court Battle with Nation’s Largest Student Loan Company

HARRISBURG — Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced an important, favorable court ruling in his lawsuit against the nation’s largest servicer of federal and private student loans, Navient Corporation, and its subsidiary Navient Solutions, LLC. The legal victory will enable the Attorney General’s legal team to review loan records which Navient had previously refused to provide.

A.G. Underwood Urges CFPB To Protect Military Servicemembers From Financial Exploitation

NEW YORK – Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood today joined a bipartisan coalition of 33 Attorneys General calling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Acting Director Mick Mulvaney to continue protecting military servicemembers against predatory lenders under the Military Lending Act (MLA). The Attorneys General urge the CFPB to reconsider its reported decision to stop examining lenders to ensure they are complying with the MLA.

New FICO system could lift credit scores by including checking and savings history

You may soon earn a higher credit score if you balance your checkbook responsibly.  FICO, the developer of the most widely used credit score, is rolling out a new score next year that considers how you manage your checking, savings and money market accounts in addition to how you pay back your credit cards and loans.  This additional information could help boost the credit scores of some of the 79 million Americans who have poor credit histories, along with the 53 million who have no credit score at all under the traditional FICO model. That, in turn, could help them qualify for a credit card or loan.

A.G. Underwood Announces $65 Million Settlement With Wells Fargo For Misleading Investors Regarding Cross-Sell Scandal

NEW YORK – Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced today that Wells Fargo & Company will pay a $65 million penalty following the Attorney General’s investigation into the bank’s fraudulent statements to investors in connection with its “cross-sell” business model, related sales practices, and the bank’s publicly reported cross-sell metrics. 

Cabot Credit Management and CallMiner Win ‘Best Use of Technology’ Award at the Credit Excellence Awards 2018

Waltham, MA, Oct 23, 2018  –  CallMiner, the leading platform provider of award-winning speech and customer engagement analytics, announced today that its customer, Cabot Credit Management (Cabot), has won the ‘Best Use of Technology’ Award at the Credit Excellence Awards 2018 presented by CCR Magazine.

Health Data Breach on Healthcare.gov Portal Impacts 75K People

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) direct enrollment pathway for agents and brokers suffered a cyber attack last week and the hackers accessed the files of approximately 75,000 individuals, according to a new release issued by CMS last Friday. CMS officials said that earlier last week, CMS staff detected anomalous activity in the Federally Facilitated Exchanges, or FFE’s Direct Enrollment pathway for agents and brokers, which a HealthCare.gov portal. The Direct Enrollment pathway, first launched in 2013, allows agents and brokers to assist consumers with applications for coverage in the FFE.

Some cybersecurity apps could be worse for privacy than nothing at all

JPMorgan to build Silicon Valley fintech office

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) said on Friday that it was building a new “fintech campus” in Silicon Valley for more than 1,000 employees, as it pushes to keep abreast of changes in digital payments.
The building is set to open in Palo Alto, California in 2020, the bank said in a statement and interviews. Most of the employees at the site will work for JPMorgan’s Chase Merchant Services division, which is the second-biggest U.S. processor of card payments for merchants.

Fall 2018 rulemaking agenda

The Bureau’s general purpose, as specified in section 1021 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), is to implement and enforce Federal consumer financial law consistently for the purpose of ensuring that all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services and that markets for consumer financial products and services are fair, transparent, and competitive. Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, Federal agencies must publish regulatory agendas twice a year. , which is led by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). 

US banks and fintechs form group to tackle customer data-sharing

Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are among the banks backing Financial Data Exchange (FDX), alongside a host of firms, including Intuit, Xero and Yodlee, that want access to consumer account data.    In recent years there has been a tug of war between banks and third parties over access to client data. While startups offering new digital services argue that consumers want to be able to share information, banks have been reticent, citing security concerns.

SEC Launches New Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology

Washington D.C., Oct. 18, 2018 —

New York City Sues For-Profit Berkeley College for Alleged Deceptive and Predatory Practices

One of the largest for-profit colleges in the state of New York has been sued for alleged deceptive and predatory practices that violate consumer and local debt collection rules, the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) announced Friday.

Proposition 111 could crush payday lending in Colorado

It was a cold October morning and the Rev. Timothy Tyler was preaching from a corner on Denver’s 16th Street Mall.  “It is time for people of conscience to join together to do the right thing, to begin the process of lifting up those who cannot lift up themselves!” said the pastor from Shorter Community AME Church, his booming voice echoing down downtown Denver’s busiest concrete corridor. About 20 people were crowded around him – some dressed for worship, some wearing toothy “loan shark” headdresses – nodding in agreement and chanting “Vote yes on Proposition 111!”

Navy Federal Announces Change at the Helm

VIENNA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--John Lockard, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Navy Federal Credit Union, announced today that the board has selected Mary McDuffie as the new President and CEO of Navy Federal.   McDuffie will assume her new role effective 18 January 2019.  Duffie is a distinguished leader, serving as an executive leader at the credit union since 1999. She currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Navy Federal.

FTC Details Efforts to Protect Older Consumers in Report to Congress

A new report released today by the Federal Trade Commission details the agency’s comprehensive efforts to protect older consumers from fraud, identity theft, and other problems in the marketplace.  The report, Protecting Older Consumers 2017-2018: A Report of the Federal Trade Commission, outlines the FTC’s research, law enforcement, and education efforts aimed at protecting older Americans.

CBCInnovis and Floify Join Forces to Provide Seamless Credit Reporting at Loan Origination

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CBCInnovis, a leading provider of credit and data verification services to the mortgage lending industry, today announced an integration of its services with Floify, a leading point of sale solution to the mortgage industry.

The Student Loan Debt Crisis Is About to Get Worse

(Bloomberg) -- While Wall Street and U.S. President Donald Trump tout news of a booming stock market and low unemployment, college students may be quick to roll their eyes. The improved economy has yet to mean higher wages for graduates already struggling to pay down massive debt, let alone ease the minds of students staring down the barrel of six-digit loan obligations yet to come.  Federal student loans are the only consumer debt segment with continuous cumulative growth since the Great Recession. As the costs of tuition and borrowing continue to rise, the result is a widening default crisis that even Fed Chairman Jerome Powell labeled as a cause for concern.

Navient named “Champion of Board Diversity”

WILMINGTON, Del., Oct. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Navient (Nasdaq: NAVI), a leading asset management and business processing services company, was among the greater Philadelphia-area companies recognized by the Forum of Executive Women as a “Champion of Board Diversity.” The award was presented yesterday to companies at the Forum’s annual breakfast, attended by more than 600 area female executives.

FTC Launches National Campaign with Resources to Assist Small Businesses with Cybersecurity

Today, the Federal Trade Commission, along with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Small Business Administration (SBA), launched a national education campaign to help small business owners understand common cyber threats and how they can help protect their  businesses.  The campaign grew out of a series of roundtable discussions that the FTC held with small business owners last year to discuss cybersecurity challenges they face. The new campaign materials include fact sheets, videos, and quizzes covering a dozen topics, including:

Department of Consumer Affairs Settles Investigation with Debt Collection Agency for Using Illegal Collection Letters

NEW YORK, NY – Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Lorelei Salas today announced a settlement with Enhanced Recovery Company, LLC, a licensed debt collection agency that sent illegal collection letters to tens of thousands of New Yorkers. The settlement resolves DCA’s findings that the debt collection agency failed to include information required by law on their collection letters, including the name of the agency and the name of a live contact to whom the consumer could speak. DCA investigated Enhanced Recovery Company as part of a proactive investigative initiative of debt collection agencies and their practices.

HONORS PRESENTED BY MDHBA AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Elmhurst, Illinois, October 18, 2018—The Medical-Dental-Hospital Business Associates (MDHBA) presented several awards during its Reception, Silent Auction and Dinner on Friday, October 12, during its Annual Conference at The Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta.  Then MDHBA President Gina Battershaw, Credit Bureau Services Inc., Norfolk, Nebraska, oversaw the ceremonies. During the program, MDHBA’s new officers were sworn in and Battershaw became Immediate Past President.

Fall 2018 rulemaking agenda (BCFP)

The Bureau’s general purpose, as specified in section 1021 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), is to implement and enforce Federal consumer financial law consistently for the purpose of ensuring that all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services and that markets for consumer financial products and services are fair, transparent, and competitive. Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, Federal agencies must publish regulatory agendas twice a year. 

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Auto Finance Summit 2018

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LendIt Fintech Europe 2018

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Collection & Recovery Solutions 2019

Resource Management Services, Inc.

Debt Connection Symposium & Expo 2019

Resource Management Services, Inc.