AG Racine to Enforce Additional Slate of COVID-19 Emergency Protections for District Residents

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced that the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) will begin enforcing an additional slate of emergency protections for District residents in the “COVID-19 Response Supplemental Emergency and Temporary Amendment Act of 2020,” passed unanimously this afternoon by the Council of the District of Columbia. The bill authorizes OAG to enforce prohibitions on utility disconnections and new consumer protections around debt collection and funeral services, and to obtain maximum penalties and relief for each discriminatory action that violates the District’s Human Rights Act. The bill also allows for the creation of electronic wills and grants non-violent, low-level arrestees more time to report to a police station during the public health crisis.

Webinar – How Text Messaging Can Keep You Connected To Your Employees, Your Clients, and Your Accounts

Text messaging was already becoming a more important component of the credit and collection industry. But the coronavirus pandemic has made text messaging even more important, allowing companies to stay in touch with their employees, their clients, and consumers.

In this webinar, sponsored by Solutions by Text, a panel of executives from across the credit and collection industry will share how they are using text messages and the benefits that the channel is offering companies of all shapes and sizes.

Apr 10, 2020 01:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

FTC Obtains Preliminary Injunction Against Investor Training Scheme Online Trading Academy

A federal court has granted the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction to halt the alleged illegal practices of Online Trading Academy (OTA). The court had previously entered a temporary restraining order in the case.
The FTC’s complaint against OTA, Eyal Shachar (also known as Eyal Shahar), Samuel Seiden, and Darren Kimoto, filed earlier this year, alleges that the defendants have used false or unfounded earnings and related claims to sell investment “training programs” costing as much as $50,000.

MicroBilt Creates Solution for SMB Lenders to Automate & Verify PPP Application Data

KENNESAW, Ga., April 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- MicroBilt launched an automated solution that allows the lending market to acquire and validate payroll while utilizing their current applications to verify bank account statements and business organization data required for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

U.S. economy will eventually reopen but with big changes: Kudlow

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is aiming to reopen the U.S. economy when the nation’s top health experts give the go-ahead, but Americans’ lives will be drastically different, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday.

U.S. Mortgage Borrowers Stop Making Payments With Economy Shut

(Bloomberg) -- The number of U.S. homeowners with mortgages who have stopped making payments is surging under the federal government’s new forbearance program, according to a survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The total number of loans in forbearance grew to 2.66% as of April 1, according to the MBA’s Forbearance and Call Volume Survey. On March 2, the rate was 0.25%. For loans backed by Ginnie Mae, which serves low- and moderate-income borrowers, the rate was 4.25%.

Why critical infrastructure is vulnerable to cyberattacks

Dan Patterson, CNET and CBS News Senior Producer, spoke with Robert Lee, founder and CEO of the cybersecurity company Dragos, about cyberthreats to industrial infrastructures. The following is an edited transcript of the interview. 

Agencies Issue Revised Interagency Statement on Loan Modifications by Financial Institutions Working with Customers Affected by the Coronavirus

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The federal financial institution regulatory agencies (the agencies), in consultation with state financial regulators, issued a revised interagency statement encouraging financial institutions to work constructively with borrowers affected by COVID-19 and providing additional information regarding loan modifications. The revised statement also provides the agencies’ views on consumer protection considerations.

As paychecks falter, banks agree to Pennsylvania attorney general’s consumer relief package

As Pennsylvania residents face the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, some banks have agreed with the state attorney general’s office to provide relief.

Millennials were just starting to feel economically stable. Now we’re being hit with another recession.

Last month, a record-breaking 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment, and the numbers will likely get worse. According to rough estimates from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, job losses could hit 47 million — an unemployment rate of 32.1 percent — during the pandemic. While service industries, including hospitality and restaurants, are projected to take the biggest hit, white-collar jobs in tech, legal services, and marketing are getting hit with layoffs and furloughs, too.

Warren: Suspend All Student Loan Payments Now

A dozen U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, Sherrod Brown and Cory Booker sent letters to leading private student loan lenders asking them to provide immediate financial relief to private student loan borrowers. In letters to lenders including Navient, Sallie Mae, Wells Fargo and others, the senators wrote that borrowers with private student loans should get the same benefits - including pausing student loan payments and no financial penalties - that borrowers with federal student loans receive in the CARES Act.

Agencies Issue Revised Interagency Statement on Loan Modifications by Financial Institutions Working with Customers Affected by the Coronavirus

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The federal financial institution regulatory agencies (the agencies), in consultation with state financial regulators, issued a revised interagency statement encouraging financial institutions to work constructively with borrowers affected by COVID-19 and providing additional information regarding loan modifications. The revised statement also provides the agencies’ views on consumer protection considerations.

Fed says it will provide financing against new U.S. ‘payroll protection’ loans

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Monday moved to bolster a new small-business lending program by allowing banks to turn those loans over to the U.S. central bank for cash, easing concerns among banks about getting stuck holding the low interest loans. The Fed said it would announce details later this week of a new term financing arrangement for loans made under what is known as the Payroll Protection Program, part of the federal response to the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bank of America sees booming rescue loan demand, with applications for nearly 10% of program

Bank of America said Monday that it’s seen fierce demand for emergency rescue loans with current applications already accounting for nearly 10% of the entire amount allocated by Congress. The bank confirmed that it has received applications from 177,000 small businesses for a total of $32.6 billion in financing. The current Bank of America numbers are its applications and do not represent the sums the Small Business Administration has approved.

Ex-CFPB director urges agency to ‘act immediately’ to help consumers during pandemic

Former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFBP) Director Richard Cordray on Monday outlined a number of steps that the agency should promptly take to help consumers during the coronavirus pandemic. In a white paper posted on Medium, Cordray and two other former CFPB officials argued that the agency currently "has been proceeding as if it is oblivious of the new and urgent risks facing consumers."

Small business owners stuck in loan limbo as new government programs stumble

Small business owners say they are frustrated with the rollout of coronavirus loan programs that promised quick cash but have become mired in technical and regulatory snafus. "It's super confusing," said Lance Lawson, co-owner of Space519, a clothing and retail boutique in Chicago. "We have real bills to pay, and I want to get my employees back on. They're all on unemployment. Every day counts."

Attorney General Becerra Issues Consumer Alert Urging Tenants Affected by COVID-19 to Act Fast in Order to Exercise their Rights

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today issued guidance to California tenants, urging them to act fast if they will not be able to pay their full rent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This alert follows Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order issued at the end of March that allows tenants affected by COVID-19 to delay their eviction process. Attorney General Becerra urges tenants to act quickly if they want to preserve their rights under the new executive order.

Governor Hogan Announces Financial Relief Initiatives for Marylanders and Small Businesses, Accelerates Hospital Surge Plan

ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan, in collaboration with Maryland’s financial institutions, today announced a series of financial relief initiatives to provide further assistance to millions of Marylanders and small businesses who are facing economic hardships due to COVID-19. Nearly 70 of Maryland’s largest banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, state agencies, and other financial entities have collaborated to provide additional flexibility to borrowers.

VA says it will pause debt collection, extend benefits deadlines during coronavirus

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to pause debt collection from veterans and extend benefits deadlines during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The move is intended to provide relief to veterans during the crisis, VA officials said. It follows President Donald Trump's announcement that he had directed VA to do exactly that. Previously, members of Congress called on VA to postpone debt collection and provide flexibility for benefits claims. 

Credit unions are ‘going to see auto lending die’ because of coronavirus

Auto lenders are bracing for one of their largest hits ever because of the coronavirus.

Car loans are a significant source of revenue for credit unions, making up about a third of the industry’s $1.1 trillion in loans in the fourth quarter, according to the National Credit Union Administration’s 2019 annual report.

Because of that, the anticipated slowdown related to the current pandemic is likely to inflict a certain amount of pain on a large number of credit unions.

Coronavirus mortgage bailout: ‘There is going to be complete chaos,’ says industry CEO

A broad coalition of mortgage and finance industry leaders on Saturday sent a plea to federal regulators, asking for desperately needed cash to keep the mortgage system running, as requests from borrowers for the federal mortgage forbearance program are pouring in at an alarming rate.

Consumers were slammed in the Great Recession. The CFPB’s former director warns worse could be on the way.

Cordray, who headed the CFPB under President Barack Obama and resigned in November 2017, told Vox he is particularly concerned that Americans will lose their homes and fall victim to the finance industry’s most predatory practices, just as they did during the 2008 economic crisis.

He doesn’t want that to happen again — and is pressing the CFPB’s current leadership to take action before it’s too late. Monday, he released a Medium post outlining immediate actions the bureau can take to address the coronavirus crisis and make sure the American people are protected from the myriad ways they are financially vulnerable right now.

State attorney general wants Northam to speed up consumer lending reforms

(The Center Square) – Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is urging Gov. Ralph Northam to accelerate the start date of consumer lending reforms, which he says is to protect Virginians from predatory lending practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bank of America sees booming rescue loan demand, with applications for nearly 10% of program

Bank of America said Monday that it’s seen fierce demand for emergency rescue loans with current applications already accounting for nearly 10% of the entire amount allocated by Congress. The bank confirmed that it has received applications from 177,000 small businesses for a total of $32.6 billion in financing. The current Bank of America numbers are its applications and do not represent the sums the Small Business Administration has approved.

The cybersecurity posture of financial-services companies: IIF/McKinsey Cyber Resilience Survey

A recent joint survey on cyber resilience by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) and McKinsey found significant concerns regarding third-party security, and our survey determined that 33 percent of financial-services firms do not have proper vendor remote-access management with multifactor-authentication controls.

Coronavirus and student loans: What borrowers should know

The spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, has left 10 million Americans unemployed in the last two weeks, escalating concerns about households and how they’ll manage their finances.  While student loan borrowers understood generally that the Department of Education (ED) has taken several steps to help them weather the chaos, many were perplexed when their loan servicer’s website — or even the agency’s — did not show the new actions.

Coppell-based Mr. Cooper signs up 86,000 consumers to mortgage forbearance in first week

Mr. Cooper Group Inc., the Coppell-based mortgage servicer and lender, says it placed 86,000 customers on forbearance plans in the first week after Congress approved a bailout and relief package intended to help consumers through the coronavirus pandemic.

Enformion Skiptracing Product Demonstration April 9

It is a challenging and unique business environment we all are currently facing. There are no definite answers to the how and when of things returning to normal, but we at Enformion hope everyone will recover and return to work as their unique situation allows.

We understand that some businesses are already looking to the resumption of business as usual, and they are possibly retooling with new technology or solutions even in the face of the proposed temporary challenges facing the collections industry.

As such, Enformion is extending a no cost 10-day trial of our skip tracing and right-party contact solutions, featuring our Premium People Search (PPS) and our newest solution, Premium People Search Lite (PPSL).

We have scheduled a Live Web demonstration of all our products for Thursday April 9th at 2pm EDT. Register here for the ZOOM event.

FTC and FCC Send Joint Letters to VoIP Service Providers Warning against ‘Routing and Transmitting’ Illegal Coronavirus-related Robocalls

The Federal Trade Commission today sent joint letters with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to three companies providing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services,warning them that routing and transmitting illegal robocalls, including Coronavirus-related scam calls, is illegal and may lead to federal law enforcement against them.

Trump says VA won’t collect debts, will extend benefits deadlines amid coronavirus outbreak

President Donald Trump said he will direct the Department of Veterans Affairs to postpone all debt collections and extend deadlines for benefits applications where possible in an effort to lessen the financial impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic on veterans and their families.

Audit finds SBA’s information security program ‘not effective’ despite cyber improvements

The Small Business Administration’s information security program remains “not effective,” despite improvement in cybersecurity oversight of incident response, risk management and contingency planning. An SBA Office of Inspector General audit found persistent weaknesses when independent accounting firm KPMG tested 10 of the agency’s systems against Federal Information Security Modernization Act requirements.

4 Major Cybersecurity Risks of Working From Home

Unprecedented numbers of people are working from home for the forseeable future, and we're dealing with everything from childcare to simply trying to find a quiet space for a call or to get work done. Our homes have become our offices, and in the rush to keep things going, we're using new systems and adhering to security policies in a way that's spotty at best. 

Zoom vulnerabilities draw new scrutiny amid coronavirus fallout

As Americans stay home due to the coronavirus pandemic, video conferencing group Zoom has seen a surge in use. But the uptick in business has exposed vulnerabilities in Zoom systems and painted a target on the company for both lawmakers and hackers. 

Mnuchin says small business rescue loans launch Friday, despite lender confusion

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was pressing ahead with the Friday launch of a $349 billion coronavirus rescue loan program for small businesses, after conceding to bank demands to fix aspects of the program that they said could cause participating lenders legal and financial risks.

CFPB Issues Credit Reporting Guidance During COVID-19 Pandemic

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) today released a policy statement outlining the responsibility of credit reporting companies and furnishers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the pandemic, many lenders are being flexible when it comes to consumers’ making payments. The Bureau’s statement underscores that consumers benefit if lenders report accurate information about these arrangements to credit bureaus so that the credit reports of consumers are accurate.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Settles with Short-Term Lender for Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) announced a settlement with Cottonwood Financial, Ltd., which does business under the name Cash Store. Cash Store is based in Irving, Texas and owns and operates roughly 340 retail lending outlets in Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. The Bureau found that in the course of marketing, servicing, and collecting on high-interest payday, auto-title, and unsecured consumer-installment loans Cash Store violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and Truth in Lending Act (TILA). The consent order requires Cash Store to pay over $1.3 million in redress and penalties.

Why debt among older Americans is going up

While much has been made of millennials and their struggles with student loan debt, seniors are increasingly challenged by mounting financial burdens. The outstanding amount owed in 2019? An estimated $1.15 trillion, according to Policy Genius. Then numbers were similarly high for 60-something seniors whose collected debt was $2.14 trillion. Carrying that kind of debt entering retirement can make a sense of financial security harder to come by.

Exclusive: Top U.S. banks may shun small-business rescue plan on liability worries – sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. banks have threatened to give the federal government’s small-business rescue program a miss on concerns about taking on too much financial and legal risk, five people with direct knowledge of industry discussions told Reuters.

Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat says bank is ‘working around the clock’ on small business relief program

Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat said the bank is “working around the clock” on an online portal for the new $350 billion small business relief program. The program, which Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said will be up on Friday, is meant to enable struggling businesses to retain employees by applying for loans that are forgiven if used for workers’ payroll. It was a key part of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill signed last week by President Donald Trump.

Consumer Alert: Be on the Lookout for Debt Relief Scams

Whenever a crisis like the coronavirus pandemic happens, scammers try to take advantage of people’s economic fears to steal their money. As North Carolinians continue to adjust to the financial impacts of this pandemic, we want you to be on the lookout for debt relief scams. In these scams, scammers offer to help reduce consumers’ debt, but end up driving you further into debt.

How Text Messaging Can Keep You Connected To Your Employees, Your Clients, and Your Accounts

Solutions by Text

Digital Banking 2020

American Banker

NACTT 55th Annual Seminar 2020

National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees (NACTT)

Debt Connection Symposium & Expo 2020

Resource Management Services, Inc.

LendIt Fintech USA

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LendIt Fintech Europe 2020

LendIt Fintech Europe

Auto Finance Summit 2020

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