Banks seek Congress’ help to block fintech path to ‘industrial’ charters

A bank industry group is lobbying Congress to block financial technology firms, such as online lender Social Finance Inc. and payment processor Square Inc., from obtaining an obscure form of a state bank charter that would let them operate nationally with little federal supervision. The Independent Community Bankers of America last week distributed a policy paper around Washington calling for an immediate moratorium on providing federal deposit insurance to industrial loan companies, or ILCs, which are chartered by only a few states — most notably Utah.

ROOM BLOCK FOR THE COLLECTION AND RECOVERY SOLUTIONS CONFERENCE ENDS APRIL 15

If you haven’t reserved your room at the Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas, you should do it now. The room block ends April 15 and rooms are going fast for the Collection and Recovery Solutions 2019 conference on May 8-10, 2019.  The conference group room rate is $289.00. Reservations can be made online at http://www.collectionrecoverysolutions.com/hotel.html or call: (877) 632-5000 and use reservations code: CRS2019.  Based on first come, first served. The hotel block is for registered CRS2019 attendees only.

Michigan attorney general joins coalition to protect consumers from payday lender abuse

LANSING, Mich. (WXyZ) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel Wednesday joined a multi-state coalition to protect consumers from payday lender abuse. Nessel urged the Federal Consumer Protection Financial Bureau to take immediate action to address the ways short-term payday and title lending model leads to abuses in payday lending. “My office has a responsibility to act when Michiganders are at risk of deceitful and abusive business practices,” Nessel said. “By delaying these protections, more consumers risk becoming victims of predatory and misleading tactics by payday lenders, and that’s more than enough reason for Michigan to step in and speak out.”

Attorney General Phil Weiser signs letter opposing CFPB efforts to delay Payday Lending consumer protections

Mar. 19, 2019 (DENVER, Colo.) – Today Attorney General Phil Weiser joined a coalition of 25 attorneys general urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to take immediate action to protect consumers from abuses in payday lending, vehicle title lending, and other exploitative practices.  “We must protect borrowers in Colorado and the rest of the country from unfair, predatory payday lending practices. The CFPB is proposing to delay the ability-to-repay provision without an adequate justification. It is critical that the CFPB protect American consumers by holding payday lenders accountable and protecting vulnerable borrowers from spiraling costs and inevitable default,” Weiser said.

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Fines Citibank, N.A. $25 Million for Violating the Fair Housing Act

WASHINGTON—The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today assessed a $25 million civil money penalty against Citibank, N.A., for violations of the Fair Housing Act.   The OCC found that the bank had certain control weaknesses related to its Relationship Loan Pricing (RLP) program designed to provide eligible mortgage loan customers either a credit to closing costs or an interest rate reduction. As a result of these control weaknesses, some bank borrowers did not receive the RLP benefit for which they were eligible and were adversely affected on the basis of their race, color, national origin, or sex. Based on these findings, the OCC has determined that the bank violated the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3601—19, and its implementing regulation, 24 C.F.R. Part 100.

Report Finds CEO Pay Rises After Data Breach

A new research report from Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick has found evidence that corporate cyberattacks lead to higher profits for chief executive (CEOs) officers at those firms. Reports in Business News Daily on Friday (March 15), co-authored by Assistant Professors of Finance Dr. Daniele Bianchi and Dr. Onur Tosun, found that data breaches at large organizations may cause financial losses at those companies, but they eventually lead to greater investments in their CEOs. The report examined instances of data breaches at 41 public U.S. firms between 2004 and 2016, focusing on high-profile cyberattacks that caused a drop in share value.

NJ is trying to give residents more control over their information amid data breaches

The headlines are constant: Millions of accounts hacked. Health and financial data stolen. Personal information shared widely with advertisers and technology companies. New Jersey is not immune. More than 4 million New Jersey accounts were affected by security breaches in 2017, according to the most recent state estimates, and a Pew survey published that year found that a majority of Americans have personally experienced some sort of data theft or fraud. Welcome to the new normal.

TCPA FCC Petitions Tracker March 2019

Kelley Drye’s Communications Practice Group presents this tracker of active Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) petitions before the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”).  With the recent increase in litigation regarding alleged violations of the TCPA, many issues relating to the interpretation of the statute have been presented to the FCC by impacted parties.  These petitions can be primary jurisdiction referrals or be presented directly by a litigant in a TCPA action.  The FCC currently has a number of petitions pending related to TCPA interpretation.  The tracker below briefly summarizes each petition and the issues presented in them.

ATTORNEY GENERAL HERRING OPPOSES CFPB EFFORT TO DELAY PROTECTIONS FROM PAYDAY LENDERS

RICHMOND (March 19, 2019) –As part of his ongoing efforts to protect Virginians from predatory lending, Attorney General Mark R. Herring today urged the CFPB to take immediate action to protect consumers from abuses in payday lending, vehicle title lending, and other types of high-cost exploitative consumer lending. In 2017, approximately 96,000 Virginians took out more than 309,000 payday loans totaling nearly $123 million with an average APR of 254%. More than 122,000 Virginians took out approximately $155 million in car title loans in 2017, and nearly 12,000 Virginians had their cars repossessed and sold for inability to repay a car title loan. Attorney General Herring is part of a coalition of 25 states who sent a letter to the CFPB.

RevSpring Announces New Chief Executive Officer

March 18, 2019 – RevSpring, a leading provider of consumer communications, billing, and payment solutions, announced today that healthcare industry veteran Scott MacKenzie has joined RevSpring as Chief Executive Officer and a member of RevSpring’s Board of Directors. Scott brings more than 25 years of experience in healthcare and information technology, with a successful track record of leading companies to accelerate growth, transform industries and create customer value.

Fintech is behind the boom in personal loans and banks should take note

The market for consumer loans in the US is booming. According to data from TransUnion, last year, the total amount of consumer loans outstanding hit a record $138bn, a 17% jump from the year prior. TransUnion says the “main driver” of this rapid growth is lending by upstart fintechs, which accounted for over a third (38%) of all personal loans issued, a huge leap from just five years ago when they accounted for 5%. That fintechs have captured so much of the consumer loan market isn’t surprising. Following the Great Recession, many of the established financial institutions that had previously been the first place many consumers turned when they needed a loan, such as big banks, cut back on consumer lending.

How to prevent spear phishing attacks: 8 tips for your business

Spear phishing attacks continue to increase in popularity among cybercriminals, and businesses must take steps to protect against them or risk seeing sensitive information stolen, according to a Tuesday report from Barracuda. These highly personalized email attacks involve a hacker researching their target and creating a message often designed to impersonate a trusted colleague or business to steal sensitive information, which is then used to commit crimes like fraud and identity theft, the report noted

A Clear Path Forward for the CFPB

Since its formation in 2011, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been widely ambitious, reportedly issuing 50 rules within its first five years, making it the “fastest rulemaking body in the federal government,” according to research from the American Action Forum. With the bureau appearing at a juncture set to “critically examine” its practices following the release of 12 requests for information (RFIs) last year, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released last week its own proposed “roadmap” forward for the bureau.

WebRecon Stats for Feb 2019: Keep on keeping on

February 2019 showed the new year is, so far, continuing the trends from 2018. FCRA, CFPB complaints are up. TCPA, FDCPA complaints are down. BBB reporting lags too far behind the other categories to make any sense in the grid, but year over year complaints against creditors and debt collectors are growing very aggressively. In other news, putative class actions were pretty typical last month with 21.5% of FDCPA, 30.3% of TCPA and 6.5% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.About 32% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.

What does the FTC’s new task force mean to data aggregators?

Should antitrust regulations govern how big tech companies collect large amounts of consumer data? That’s a question that’s been getting increased attention recently, with growing pressure from state regulators and legislators for antitrust action against big tech companies. While the U.S. still has a long debate ahead on this issue, European regulators have already been investigating, and in some cases fining, large tech companies for their data practices. Part of the debate in the U.S. centers on whether the control of big data is an antitrust issue, a consumer protection issue, or both. But there are indications that the FTC, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, and state regulators will not sit idly while the debate continues.

Payday lending industry gains upper hand in Statehouse fight

After years of fighting to lower the interest rates credit agencies can charge on subprime loans, consumer protection advocates thought they finally had a win lined up this legislative session. A bill that would have capped two-week “payday” loans of up to $605 at an annual percentage rate of 36 percent—compared with the 391 percent APR that can be charged now—passed an Indiana Senate committee and headed to the Senate floor for a vote in February. But supporters of the legislation—including Erin Macey, senior policy analyst for the Indiana Institute for Working Families, and Kathleen Lara, policy director for Prosperity Indiana—weren’t celebrating that day.

New study highlights just how bad Americans are with credit cards

A new study details how Americans manage credit cards and how stressful credit debt can be. Commissioned by Clever Real Estate and conducted by online polling software Pollfish, the report looked at 1,000 survey responses of Americans who owned at least one credit card. “The most shocking find to me was how many Americans carry credit card balances month to month,” Tommy O'Shaughnessy, an analyst at Clever Real Estate Analyst and the author of the report, told Yahoo Finance. Nearly half of the respondents (47%) carried some amount of credit card debt month to month, according to the survey, with 72% of borrowers carrying more than $1,000.

JPMorgan Chase is investing $350 million to get workers ready for the future

New York (CNN Business)JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon talks a lot about the need to train workers for the jobs of the future. Now the bank says it will spend $350 million over the next five years to make it happen.   The company, which previously made a $250 million five-year commitment to job training in 2013, said Monday it will invest in a variety of initiatives, including a development program for community college presidents and new research.

Florida is still U.S. scam capital, but now millennials are the prey

When it comes to scams, Florida is still No. 1, with millennials — not seniors — in the crosshairs, according to the latest fraud report from the Federal Trade Commission. With nearly 3 million consumer complaints made to the agency in 2018, the Sunshine State ranked No. 1 for fraud and No. 4 for identity theft, according to the latest FTC Data Book, which compiles statistics from complaints made directly to the agency. Of 1.4 million frauds reported to the agency, more than 210,000 consumers in Florida made complaints with losses of more than $84 million. That’s up from $54.7 million in 2017. Georgia and Nevada rounded out the top three states reporting fraud per 100,000 in population.

FTC Releases 2018 Privacy and Data Security Update

The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s primary privacy and data security enforcer, released its annual report highlighting its privacy and data security work for 2018.   The FTC’s privacy and security enforcement actions in 2018 included shutting down revenge porn website MyEx.com, approving a settlement with peer-to-peer payment service Venmo over deceptive privacy settings, approving an expanded settlement with Uber Technologies, Inc. to resolve data security and privacy allegations, and approving a privacy and data security settlement with mobile phone maker BLU Products, Inc. 

RECOVERY MANAGEMENT NETWORK TO HAVE ANNUAL MEETING AT COLLECTION AND RECOVERY SOLUTIONS 2019

The Recovery Management Network will meet on Wednesday, May 8^th, from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Four Seasons in Las Vegas, as a tie-in to the Collection and Recovery Solutions 2019 event (CRS2019).  This small group peer session is geared for creditor members, and provides an opportunity networking with peers and for peer discussions on “collection and recovery hot topics”, “omnichannel communications”, vendor auditing and much more.

CFPB calls out reverse mortgage servicing problems

As part of its ongoing effort to keep tabs on loan servicers, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a report this week that highlighted problems with the servicing of reverse mortgages. According to the bureau, a recent examination brought to light the fact that some reverse mortgage servicers have issued misleading statements to the heirs of deceased reverse mortgage borrowers. When a borrower passes away, the servicer is required to contact the heirs to notify them of their right to repay the loan or place the property up for sale. Alternatively, the property moves into foreclosure. In this instance, the Department of Housing and Urban Development allows for up to two 90-day extensions to grant the heirs time to make a decision.

Lending revolution: fintechs vs banks

Are emerging fintechs levelling the playing field with high street banks in the SME lending market? Alternative lenders understand the hunger for a seamless customer experience and have built credit journeys that align to business expectations. Eight out of ten SME loan applications were approved by banks in the third quarter of 2018, according to the latest figures from trade association UK Finance. While this is a far cry from the days of the global financial crisis, when SME lending all but dried up in part due to regulatory pressures to shore up capital, smaller companies are still citing challenges in according to Stuart Chalmers, commercial banking lead for Accenture UK.

What Is a Consent Management Platform?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been in effect for almost a year, and as you might imagine, companies have started taking consumer consent far more seriously with regards to data collection, storage and usage. For smaller sites and businesses, habits needed tweaking. For larger sites with high volumes of traffic, a more methodical approach was required to remain GDPR compliant. That’s where a consent management system comes in handy.

Money keeps flowing to fintechs

Fintech funding reached a record high of $11.9 billion in 2018, and startups have continued to attract millions in investments from venture capital firms, private-equity players and banks this year.    The online challenger bank Chime announced a $200 million funding round at the beginning of March, the largest ever for a savings and lending fintech.

Loans to members rule adopted as proposed

The NCUA Board on Thursday finalized, largely as proposed, its rule to reform to loans and lines of credit to credit union members. NAFCU offered its support of the rule and believes it will positively impact the industry. The board also received a fourth-quarter update on the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF).

BBVA Compass commits to providing financial education to 10,000 adults in 2019

Full program launch: Following its four-month pilot in 2018, the bank kicked off the full financial education program last week at its annual Financial Education Summit in Houston.    240 attendees including 93 representatives from participating community partners: Fifty nonprofit community partners were represented at this year's Summit, which was the largest in the bank's program history.

IRS Private Debt Collection Program Brings in $130.6 Million

The Senate Finance Committee released a new quarterly report detailing the progress of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Private Debt Collection (PDC) Program – which works to bolster the U.S. Treasury and strengthen the effectiveness of the IRS by providing taxpayers with customized solutions that help them satisfy lingering tax debts in a manageable way.

PayPal now lets US users instantly transfer funds to bank accounts in seconds

PayPal, a longtime alternative to the direct use of cards, cash and bank transfers to make payments for goods online and in stores, is today adding a new feature to help it tap into a wider range of customers, such as gig economy workers and use cases — in competition not just against banks (and Zelle, a service that they back), but also younger upstarts like Stripe, Square and others chasing the same business. PayPal is launching Instant Transfer to bank, which will let those receiving money via PayPal instantly move that into their bank accounts to access as cash or however else they would like to use it.

GAO offers CFPB alternative data recommendations

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) a series of recommendations regarding sharing lender alternative data insight. The GAO is recommending the CFPB and federal banking regulators communicate in writing to fintech lenders and banks that partner with fintech lenders, respectively, on the appropriate use of alternative data in the underwriting process. The GAO said the recommendations stem from the CFPB having supervisory authority over some fintech lenders. Fintech lenders that have entered into third-party relationships with banks may also be subject to indirect oversight by federal banking regulators.

NEW ROUNDTABLES ANNOUNCED FOR COLLECTION AND RECOVERY SOLUTIONS 2019 IN LAS VEGAS, NV

Resource Management Services, Inc. is pleased to announce new roundtable sessions at the Collection and Recovery Solutions 2019 conference at the Four Seasons Hotel, Las Vegas May 8 – 10, 2019.  In addition to the quality speakers in our main conference sessions, the Creditor’s Roundtables on Friday morning give the attendee an opportunity to choose three different roundtable sessions to join. This allows the attendee to discuss and explore issues of importance from a variety of collection and recovery topics with the discussions led by an industry peer with knowledge specific to the topic. Creditor roundtables will be on Friday, May 10 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:40 a.m.  Here are some of the topics that will be discussed this year.

$7,856,393.06 Auto Deficiencies

Capital Asset Management, Inc.

(317) 633-6633

$1,680,236 Payday Loans

GLI Investments

(909) 203-0648

$2,196,080 Payday Loans

GLI Investments

(909) 203-0648

Prober and Raphael, ALC

(818) 227-0100

SCORE Statistical Consulting Inc.

(416) 861-1217

Nutek Solutions LLC

(985) 464-1007

Will’s Financial LLC

(832) 270-4933

LendIt Fintech USA 2019

LendIt Fintech

NCUCA – National Credit Union Collection Alliance

NCUCA - National Credit Union Collection Alliance

Collection & Recovery Solutions 2019

Resource Management Services, Inc.

National Creditors Bar Association 2019 Spring Conference

National Creditors Bar Association

PrivacyCon 2019

Federal Trade Commission

NACTT 54th Annual Seminar Registration Open

NACTT

ACA International 2019 Annual Convention & Expo

ACA International

Debt Connection Symposium & Expo 2019

Resource Management Services, Inc.

National Creditors Bar Association 2019 Fall Conference

National Creditors Bar Association