Student loan servicer appeals landmark $220,000 bankruptcy ruling

appealing a bankruptcy judge’s watershed decision to discharge all of a U.S. Navy veteran’s student debt." data-reactid="15" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; color: #26282a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">A student loan servicer is appealing a bankruptcy judge’s watershed decision to discharge all of a U.S. Navy veteran’s student debt.   Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC) — a nonprofit that guarantees and services student loans on behalf of the Department of Education (ED) — is challenging the January 7 decision made by Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia G. Morris, who discharged $221,385.49 in student loan debt for Navy veteran and lawyer Kevin Rosenberg under chapter 7 bankruptcy

Former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf barred from industry, to pay $17.5 million for sales scandal

The U.S. government announced that former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf is barred from ever working at a bank and will pay $17.5 million in connection to scandals at Wells.   The OCC also said the former head of Wells Fargo’s Community Bank unit, Carrie Tolstedt, is still fighting the allegations against her.

Google Ban Fails to Stamp Out Short-Term Payday Lending Apps

(Bloomberg) -- In August, Google announced a global crackdown on Android apps that offer short-term loans, saying it wanted to protect consumers from what it called “deceptive and exploitative” terms. But five months later, payday-style applications offering fast money for one or two weeks are still easy to find in many countries on Google Play, the company’s marketplace for Android apps. Some charge interest rates that can exceed 200% annualized.

NEW ROUNDTABLES ANNOUNCED FOR COLLECTION AND RECOVERY SOLUTIONS 2020 IN LAS VEGAS, NV

Resource Management Services, Inc. is pleased to announce three new round tables at the Collection and Recovery Solutions 2020 conference at the Four Seasons Hotel, Las Vegas May 6 – 8, 2020.

We also have a double-header round table with Sherri Althoff of Alliance Data and Marian Sangalang, of The Bureaus, Inc. talking about Debt Buying and Selling.  Chris Straiter of BECU, will moderate the Post Charge Off Recovery Strategies round table.  Last but not least, we have Cynthia Victory of U.S. Bank will hold a discussion on TCPA Cell Calls and Texts.  

These are only 3 of the roundtables that are being held at CRS2020.  You don’t want to miss out.

NY DFS Unveils Consumer Protection Task Force, adds Former CFPB Deputy Director

Less than one month into the new year, New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) has taken strong measures to make good on its proclamation that  “2020 must be the year of the consumer” by: (1) unveiling a 12-member Consumer Protection Task Force to help implement an extensive consumer protection agenda; and (2) adding former CFPB Deputy Director Leandra English as a special policy advisor to the Superintendent.

Berger asks Kraninger for FFIEC to lead on data privacy guidance

NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger, in a letter Thursday, asked CFPB Director and Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) Chair Kathy Kraninger to provide interagency guidance related to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) to help credit unions and other financial institutions comply with data privacy laws.

How new FICO changes may lower — or boost— your credit score

The newest version of the FICO credit score unveiled on Thursday will have a broader view of how you manage your debt and will boost as many scores as it will hurt.   Instead of relying on just a snapshot of your financial behavior, the new score, called FICO Score 10, will be able to peer into your financial habits for the past 24 months and determine – based on that history – if you’re a risky borrower.

FTC issued more than $1.6 million for Nevada consumers in 2019, agency says

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday it issued more than $1.6 million in refund checks in 2019 for Nevada consumers, a fraction of the reported $15 million lost in 2019 due to scams and fraud. According to the agency, residents filed 35,220 complaints with the FTC last year, most of them being identity-theft related incidents.

OCC Issues Notice of Charges Against Five Former Senior Wells Fargo Bank Executives, Announces Settlement With Others

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today issued a notice of charges against five former senior executives of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and announced settlements with the bank’s former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and other members of the bank’s operating committee.   “The actions announced by the OCC today reinforce the agency’s expectations that management and employees of national banks and federal savings associations provide fair access to financial services, treat customers fairly, and comply with applicable laws and regulations,” stated Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting.   The charges stem from the executives’ role in the bank’s systemic sales practices misconduct. 

New FTC Data Shows that the FTC Received Nearly 1.7 Million Fraud Reports, and FTC Lawsuits Returned $232 Million to Consumers in 2019

New data released by the Federal Trade Commission shows that FTC actions led to more than $232 million in refunds to consumers across the country in 2019.   A core part of the FTC’s mission is to return money to consumers who are harmed by illegal business practices. Over the last four years, consumers have cashed more than $1 billion in FTC refund checks.

Attorney General James Leads Coalition Fighting To Ensure Consumer Protections Are Not Reversed

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today led a coalition of 24 attorneys general fighting to ensure that the states can continue to benefit from powerful tools under Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act that help them protect consumers from fraud and abusive consumers practices. In an amicus brief filed in Seila Law, LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Attorney General James and the coalition argue that the U.S. Supreme Court should preserve the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other significant consumer protections provided by Title X.

Microsoft Security Shocker As 250 Million Customer Records Exposed Online

A new report reveals that 250 million Microsoft customer records, spanning 14 years, have been exposed online without password protection.  Microsoft has been in the news for, mostly, the wrong reasons recently. There is the Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability that Microsoft hasn't issued a patch for, despite it being actively exploited. That came just days after the U.S. Government issued a critical Windows 10 update now alert concerning the "extraordinarily serious" curveball crypto vulnerability. Now a newly published report, has revealed that 250 million Microsoft customer records, spanning an incredible 14 years in all, have been exposed online in a database with no password protection.

NY Proposes Substantial Restrictions in Debt Collection Licensing Bill

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed a bill to license consumer debt collectors. The proposal comes as part of the governor’s 2021 “budget bill” and was introduced on Jan. 21. A copy is available here. The bill proposes an effective date of Oct. 1, 2020.

Insurers look to curb ransomware exposure as U.S. cyber rates rise

The changes follow a challenging year of hackers using malicious programs, known as ransomware, to take down systems that control everything from hospital billing to manufacturing. They stop only after receiving increasingly hefty payments. The attacks happened less frequently in 2019, but the problem remains significant, cybersecurity experts said. “Ransomware is more sophisticated and dangerous than we saw in the past,” said Adam Kujawa, director of Malwarebytes Labs.

BankThink A plan to give CFPB’s new task force some teeth

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently announced the composition of its new task force, aimed at improving and strengthening federal consumer financial laws and regulations. The task force’s five members are all eminently qualified, with more than 150 years of academic, government and private-sector experience in consumer financial law and policy between them. But experience and professional distinction is no guarantee of productivity.

Attorney General Becerra Slams Proposal That Would Allow Predatory Lenders to Take Advantage of California’s Most Vulnerable Communities

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, co-leading a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and New York Attorney General Letitia James, submitted a comment letter opposing a proposal by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to exempt payday and other high-cost lenders from state usury laws. Usury laws prevent predatory lenders from taking advantage of consumers by charging high interest rates on loans. California recently enacted one such law capping interest rates for loans under $10,000. If finalized, the OCC’s proposed regulations would enable predatory lenders to circumvent these caps through “rent-a-bank” schemes, in which banks act as lenders in name only, passing along their state law exemptions to non-bank payday lenders. These arrangements would allow lenders to charge consumers rates that far exceed the rates permissible under California’s new law.

Debt Connection Symposium & Expo – September 15 – 17, 2020

DCS' Greatest Hits - Bringing back Meet The Regulators, The Great Debate, and so much more!  Great content, and super networking with VIP access Speed Networking, Expo, and Rockin' Rollin' Bowlin'  Save the Dates! Get more details at: DCS2020

Online registration now available at: DCS2020 Online Registration

Two Powerful New State CFPBs? California, New York Proposals May Rock the Financial World

Joining Pennsylvania, California looks to be the next state to create a state version of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And with recent pronouncements from New York that may place greater authority with its prudential regulator, will that state be far behind? We discuss both news stories below.

CFPB planning to eliminate DTI requirement from QM lending rules

Over the last several months, a number of the nation’s largest lenders and housing trade groups have called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make changes to the Ability to Repay/Qualified Mortgage rule. More specifically, Bank of America, Quicken Loans, Wells Fargo, Caliber Home Loans, along with the Mortgage Bankers Association, the American Bankers Association, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and others asked the CFPB to do away with the QM rule’s debt-to-income ratio requirement.

Hacker leaks passwords for more than 500,000 servers, routers, and IoT devices

A hacker has published this week a massive list of Telnet credentials for more than 515,000 servers, home routers, and IoT (Internet of Things) "smart" devices. The list, which was published on a popular hacking forum, includes each device's IP address, along with a username and password for the Telnet service, a remote access protocol that can be used to control devices over the internet. According to experts to who ZDNet spoke this week, and a statement from the leaker himself, the list was compiled by scanning the entire internet for devices that were exposing their Telnet port. The hacker than tried using (1) factory-set default usernames and passwords, or (2) custom, but easy-to-guess password combinations.

3 Evolving Social Media Trends to Embrace in 2020

The social media marketing landscape is so dynamic these days that it can be really difficult to keep up with. Social media marketing is now highly integrated into various workflows, and increasingly technology-driven, and those very same innovations are disrupting the way consumers discover and buy products online, influencing purchase journeys, and changing the way that customers interact with brands.

NAFCU reiterates remittance rule concerns to CFPB

NAFCU Senior Counsel for Research and Policy Andrew Morris sent a letter to the CFPB Tuesday addressing NAFCU's continued concerns about remittance transfers under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. Last month, the CFPB issued a proposal related to its remittance rule that included an increase to the safe harbor threshold from its current level of 100 transfers in the previous and current calendar year to 500 transfers. Previously, NAFCU had urged the Bureau to adopt an even larger change.

So far, under California’s new privacy law, firms are disclosing too little data — or far too much

The measure was supposed to provide consumers more transparency about their data. It’s looking more like a muddle.  A new consumer privacy law in California was supposed to push companies toward greater transparency around the reams of data they collect every day. But weeks after the landmark law went into effect, the early results are not yet bringing consumers much clarity. The California Consumer Privacy Act, which took effect Jan. 1 after being adopted in 2018, was hailed by privacy advocates as a great leap forward in holding companies accountable for how they handle personal data, one that would give U.S. consumers their first real glimpse at how they are being monitored and profited from online.

Oversight Without Travel – Call Monitoring Course Just Released!

Just released - the first class in the Oversight Without Travel Series, taught by Ken Evancic. For auditors of third party collection agencies - learn tips and techniques for enhancing your oversight with a regularly-scheduled, efficient and effective call monitoring program. In this case, learn oversight techniques without traveling to class with our new training platform, and learn to effectively and efficiently conduct call monitoring without traveling to your vendors' site. This course covers why you should monitoring vendor calls, and how to do so efficiently and effectively with maximum results. Learn how to sample, tips and techniques, and building your own scorecard for monitoring third party vendor performance.  https://CallMonitoringOversight 
Learn at your own pace, and go back anytime during the year. 

US Could Appoint a Cybersecurity Leader for Each State

The USA is considering legislation that would protect local governments by requiring the appointment of a cybersecurity leader for each state. Backers of the Cybersecurity State Coordinator Act of 2020 say the proposed law will improve intelligence sharing between state and federal governments and speed up incident response times in the event of a cyber-attack. Under the legislation, the director of the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would be tasked with appointing an employee of the agency in each state to serve as cybersecurity state coordinator. 

Banks that shun risky borrowers offer rosy view of U.S. consumer

With most U.S. households spending more and paying their bills on time, their creditors are feeling more confident than ever. To hear the CEOs of the nation's largest banks tell it this week, rarely has the American consumer been in better shape. But look deeper and it's clear that view of the broad U.S. economy has its limits. They're basing their assessments on clients lucky enough to bank with eight of the biggest lenders, with a combined $11 trillion in assets.

Debt Collection for Businesses Is Now Easier Online

You may be thinking of an effective way to try and regain a percentage of money owed to you. After you’ve sent friendly reminders, a letter of demand and informal negotiations, to name a few, you may want to consider getting the help of a small business collection agency which you can easily reach online. A debt collection service will attempt recovery with ideally the entire amount. They either charge a fixed amount or a percentage of the money recovered. 

CEO says Bank of America aims to ‘double’ its U.S. consumer market share – Financial Times

(Reuters) - Brian Moynihan, the chief executive officer of Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), has said the bank could double its consumer market share in the United States despite fears about the power of the country’s largest banking institutions. “Our market share in consumer is probably 12, 13, 14 percent, depending on who counts . ...  The reality is, you could double that,” Moynihan said in an interview with the Financial Times, pointing out that some auto, soft drink and beer companies had massively more consumer share than Bank of America.

Don’t fall for this scam site that promises to pay you back for data breaches

So many data breaches have happened in the past 12 months that it’s hard to keep track of them all. Each one had unique effects on their respective industries, and naturally, consumers are the ones paying the price for negligence and poor cybersecurity. But still, affected parties are hanging on to hope that justice might be served. Developments like the Equifax settlement seemed like an optimistic step in the right direction, but the reality of the class action payments has left many victims feeling cynical. 

CGI WILL BE EXHIBITING AT THE COLLECTION AND RECOVERY SOLUTIONS 2020 CONFERENCE IN LAS VEGAS!

We are happy to announce that CGI will be exhibiting at the Collection and Recovery Solutions 2020 Conference in Las Vegas May 6-8, 2020 at the Four Seasons Hotel.  Stop by booth 11 and visit with the CGI gang.

 Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world. Operating in hundreds of locations across the globe, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of capabilities, from strategic IT and business consulting to systems integration, managed IT and business process services and intellectual property solutions. CGI works with clients through a local relationship model complemented by a global delivery network to help clients achieve their goals, including becoming customer-centric digital enterprises.

For more information about CGI, visit them at http://www.cgi.com/collections .

For more information about the Collections and Recovery Solutions conference please visit us at http://www.collectionrecoverysolutions.com/

Scam Squad: FTC warns of car wrap scams

The student loan debt is $1.6 trillion and people are struggling to pay it down

Bankruptcy filings edged up across Arizona in 2019

4 Ways to Improve Borrower Experience to Meet Fintech Challenges

Busy consumers won't settle for slow financial institution personal loan application and approval processes when they can have easier experiences and quicker answers with fintech lenders. Taking these critical steps can make the difference between staying in the personal credit game and surrendering to more-agile newcomers.

Lawmakers call for FTC probe into top financial data aggregator

A group of lawmakers on Friday called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate one of the top financial data aggregators in the U.S., questioning whether it is collecting reams of sensitive information on Americans without adequate consent. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), alongside Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), said the FTC should probe Envestnet, a huge financial services company that owns the largest consumer financial data aggregator in the U.S. The probe comes as Congress has intensified its scrutiny of large corporations collecting personal information on nearly every American. 

Defendants in FTC Credit Repair Scheme Case Agree to Settle Charges

The operators of a bogus credit repair scheme are banned from the credit repair business and subject to a wide array of other requirements under settlement terms with the Federal Trade Commission.   The settlements relate to an FTC complaint filed in June 2019 alleging that the defendants targeted consumers with false promises of substantially improving consumers’ credit scores by claiming to remove all negative items and “hard” credit inquiries (which can often change a consumer’s credit score) from consumers’ credit reports. In addition, the FTC alleged the defendants illegally charged upfront fees for their services and advised consumers to mislead credit bureaus and lenders, as well as threatening consumers with lawsuits when they complained or disputed charges.

RMAI Supports New York’s Efforts to License Debt Collectors

January 17, 2020 (Sacramento, CA):  The Receivables Management Association International (RMAI) supports New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s initiative announced last week in his State of the State Address in which he calls for the licensure of debt collection businesses. RMAI has long been a proponent of state licensing.   “Licensure is not only good for consumers, but it is also good for the receivables industry” said RMAI Executive Director Jan Stieger. “Licensure is highly consistent with the principles contained in RMAI’s Receivables Management Certification Program, which advances consumer protections by establishing the industry standards for best practices.”

We are accepting applications for our Advisory Committees

To ensure that the CFPB hears from a variety of external experts with diverse viewpoints, we established the Consumer Advisory Board, the Community Bank Advisory Council, the Credit Union Advisory Council, and the Academic Research Council. These advisory committees provide the Bureau with information about emerging trends and practices in the consumer financial marketplace. They also allow us to hear directly from small financial institutions.

The U.K. credit card market at a glance

While not as large as the U.S. both in number of people and number of credit card owners, the U.K. remains a very lucrative market for issuing banks and card networks, as well as a host of alternative financial service providers catering to younger, underserved consumers.

In 2017 there were just over 32.3 million adult credit card owners possessing a total of roughly 60 million cards or about two different cards per owner, according to the UK Cards Association (now rebranded UK Finance). Given that the Office for National Statistics reported that there were approximately 52.4 million adults 18 and over in the country in 2018, this gives the U.K. a credit card penetration rate of about 62%,

$120,074.96 Credit Cards

National Debt Holdings, LLC

(877) 277-5571

$300,000,000 Credit Cards

National Debt Holdings, LLC

(877) 277-5571

RMAi Annual Conference

The Payments Summit 2020

The Payments Summit

2020 Annual Utilities Credit & Collections Symposium

Conferences By Monticello

ACA International 2020 Spring Forum & Expo

ACA International

BUMP Collections! Dallas

A "CollectoRMSeries" course by Resource Management Services, Inc.

Commercial Payments International

EuroFinance

AFCC Spring Conference – 2020

NAPCP Commercial Card and Payment Conference: P-Card, Travel Card, ePayables

NAPCP

NCUCA – National Credit Union Collection Alliance 2020

NCUCA National Credit Union Collections Alliance

Collection and Recovery Solutions 2020

Collection & Recovery Solutions - produced by Resource Management Services, Inc.

LendIt Fintech USA

Save 15% with our Discount Code: DC15%

National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees 2020

National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees (NACTT)

Debt Connection Symposium & Expo 2020

Resource Management Services, Inc.

Auto finance Summit 2020

Royal Media