At a glanceFriday, November 20, 2020

Collection Industry News At A Glance - November 20, 2020
Friday November 20, 2020
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Articles

 
Credit card debt is falling. That’s good news — and bad news

We learned this week that household debt is rising, according to the New York Federal Reserve. You can thank the booming housing market for that, along with student and auto loans. However, that same report found that credit card debt is falling. That’s good news, right? Well, yes and no. Ever since the pandemic started, many people have been receiving government relief. Kathy Jones, chief fixed-income strategist at Charles Schwab, said people have also had fewer ways to spend that money.

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Joint Fact Sheet on Bank Secrecy Act Due Diligence Requirements for Charities and Nonprofit Organizations

The FDIC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (referred to collectively as the Agencies) are issuing a joint fact sheet to provide clarity on how to apply a risk-based approach to meeting the customer due diligence (CDD) requirements contained in FinCEN’s 2016 CDD Final Rule when providing services to charities and other non-profit organizations (NPOs). 

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Survey: 45% of Federal Student Loan Borrowers Unsure They Can Pay

When the deadly COVID-19 pandemic began taking a toll on the economy and Americans' finances earlier this year, monthly payments were suspended automatically for more than 42 million federal student loan borrowers.

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2 in 3 Concerned About Data Breaches During the Holiday Shopping Season This Year

BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Generali Global Assistance, the developer of a proprietary and innovative identity and cyber protection platform, today released the findings of its fourth annual Holiday Shopping ID Theft survey.

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Fintech and big tech credit markets around the world

In the last decade, two new types of credit intermediation have grown rapidly. Both use new technology to compete with banks in their core lending function (Stulz 2019). 

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Mnuchin pulls plug on some pandemic lending programs that Fed considers essential

(Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that key pandemic lending programs at the Federal Reserve would expire on Dec. 31, putting the outgoing Trump administration at odds with the central bank and potentially adding stress to the economy as President-elect Joe Biden organizes his administration.

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Student Loan Debt Relief Scammer Brandon Frere Agrees to Settle FTC Charges

Student loan debt relief scammer Brandon Frere and his companies, including Ameritech Financial, have entered into an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to settle charges they misled approximately 40,000 consumers about lowering their student loan debt.

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California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation Provides Update on California Consumer Financial Protection Law and Debt Collection Licensing Act Rulemaking

On November 16, 2020, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) held a “listening session” relating to the implementation of the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL). The DFPI’s intent of the session was to gather feedback on the CCFPL to help inform and prioritize its rulemaking and implementation efforts. 

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Google moves into Venmo and bank territory with checking accounts and updated payment app

Google is moving deeper into consumer finance. The tech giant will let users open bank accounts, pay friends and manage budgets through a new version of its Google Pay app rolling out Wednesday. The Mountain View, California-based company partnered with Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union to launch the mobile bank accounts and said it plans to add 11 new partner institutions next year. Google Pay will also let users send peer-to-peer payments — a feature that made PayPal’s Venmo and Square’s Cash App household names as people shift to digital payments during the pandemic.

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FTC Alleges Mobile Banking App Misled Users About Access to Their Funds, Failed to Deliver on Promised High Interest Rates

The Federal Trade Commission sued the operators of a mobile banking app, alleging that they falsely promised users high interest rates on their accounts and “24/7” access to their funds.

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Consumer borrowing up $16.2 billion in September in credit card bounce back

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumers increased their borrowing in September, helped by the first gain in the category that covers credit cards in seven months. The Federal Reserve reported that total borrowing rose by $16.2 billion in September, rebounding after a drop of $6.9 billion in August.

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Americans’ mortgage debt soars to a record $10 trillion

New York (CNN Business) Low interest rates have helped fuel a boom in the US housing market: Last quarter Americans' mortgage debt climbed to a record high of nearly $10 trillion, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Tuesday.

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The Ten Biggest Stories Covering Ten Years of Fintech

It was November 17, 2010 when I published my first ever article on fintech, ten years ago today. At the time I really believed in the concept of peer to peer lending but I had no idea how this glorified hobby would change my career and my life. For the select few that have been with us for a long time, the pre-cursor to this site was called Social Lending Network (www.sociallending.net) which is the blog I purchased in 2010 to get started in this industry. I rebranded to Lend Academy in 2012 and LendIt Fintech was started in 2013.

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5 Steps to Cyber Security

Recent reports of 401(k) thefts and an ongoing concern about cybersecurity (should) have everybody on the alert. Here’s some things you, your plan sponsor clients, and their participants should check out—now.

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The DOJ has approved Mastercard’s acquisition of Finicity

Federal regulators have approved Mastercard’s  acquisition of Salt Lake City-based startup Finicity, which provides open-banking APIs. The deal is expected to go for $825 million.

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300 companies that received virus relief funds have filed for bankruptcy

The government distributed $525B in PPP loans since April.   Billions of dollars shelled out to companies through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) wasn’t enough to sustain hundreds of businesses during the pandemic.

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Kinecta Federal Credit Union Recognized as Great Place to Work

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.Nov. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Kinecta Federal Credit Union today announced it is Great Place to Work-Certified™ (GPW). To reach GPW certification, anonymous employee feedback was gathered, and a rigorous, data-driven methodology proved 89% of employees consistently have a positive experience at Kinecta, compared to 59% for a typical U.S.-based company.

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Agencies announce dollar thresholds in Regulations Z and M for exempt consumer credit and lease transactions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Reserve Board and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today announced the dollar thresholds in Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) and Regulation M (Consumer Leasing) that will apply for determining exempt consumer credit and lease transactions in 2021.

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These major retailers are spending millions of dollars to show employees appreciation

With their profit coffers fully stocked after months of consumers hoarding food and cleaning products during the COVID-19 pandemic, some major retailers are opening up their checkbooks to reward tired workers ahead of the busy holiday shopping season.

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CFPB Shelves Enforcement Changes After Staff Pushback (1)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has put the brakes on a planned restructuring of its supervision and enforcement unit after bureau staff raised objections to the changes. The reorganization, announced in mid-October, would have essentially forced the CFPB’s enforcement division to get approval for new investigations and research matters from a new office in its Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending division. But the plan was met with pushback within the bureau, according to a Monday email from Bryan Schneider, the associate director of the CFPB’s SEFL unit, obtained by Bloomberg Law.

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CFPB Announces Settlement with Debt Collector for Credit Reporting Violations

We have been covering developments concerning litigation brought under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”).  Well, entities regulated under the FCRA can also be subject to enforcement actions for failing to meet their statutory obligations.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) last week announced a settlement with Afni, Inc. (“Afni”) to address violations the CFPB identified in Afni providing information to consumer reporting agencies (“CRAs”).  

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Banks Reinforce Protections As Cybercriminals’ Tactics Evolve

Banks have long worked to anticipate and protect against emerging tactics of cybercriminals. Now, with the pandemic accelerating a move toward digital product acquisition, communication, purchases and money movement, financial institutions (FIs) and their clients need to be even more vigilant. Leslie Ragan manages transaction fraud prevention for Elan Financial Services, a unit of U.S. Bancorp, which is the parent company of U.S. Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in the United States. In an interview with PYMNTS, Ragan said technology developments have enhanced the industry’s fraud-fighting strategies, but customer awareness is still a critical component of preventing bad actors from succeeding.

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BBVA sells U.S. subsidiary to PNC for $11.6 billion

MADRIDNov. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- BBVA has agreed to sell to PNC its subsidiary in the U.S. for $11.6 billion (€9.7 billion1) in cash, an amount that represents 19.7 times the unit's 2019 earnings2, and that is almost 50% of BBVA's current market capitalization, creating significant value for shareholders. The transaction will have a positive impact on BBVA's fully loaded CET1 ratio of c.300 basis points, or €8.5 billion of CET1 generation.

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FTC Warns Frank Financial Aid to Stop Potentially Misleading Marketing Directed to Students Seeking Coronavirus Financial Relief

The Federal Trade Commission has sent a warning letter to a company that markets financial aid prep assistance to post-secondary students, notifying the company that it could potentially be misleading consumers about access to a coronavirus relief program.

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Banks’ Margins Suffer As US Consumers Pay Down Credit Card Debt

U.S. consumers have been paying down payments on credit cards with the pandemic continuing to hamper spending opportunities, which has led to dramatically falling bank card loans, The Financial Times (FT) reports. According to the report, the total amount of card loans in U.S. banks was $755 billion, down $100 billion from before the pandemic, while balances have drifted lower in three of the last four weeks. In addition, the amount of Americans opening new accounts was down to 8.6 million in the third quarter, almost 50 percent lower year over year, according to stats from TransUnion. That has also had a negative impact on banks, with card revenue for Citigroup falling 18 percent this year compared to 2019; a Wells Fargo bank analyst said credit card spending would likely stay down until COVID-19 was on the way out, the report says.

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How Alternative Lending Technology Stays Flexible For SMBs

In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, and banks’ subsequent pullback from the small- to medium-sized business (SMB) lending arena, a slew of alternative lenders emerged onto the scene to fill the credit gap. Over the years, that surge in competition gave way to a more collaborative spirit between traditional financial institutions (FIs) and FinTechs as both sides worked to digitize and modernize SMB financing. While this partnership model remains popular, market volatility has once again created a need to connect more SMBs to capital as quickly and efficiently as possible.

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CFPB, Colorado’s Attorney General Announce Joint, Virtual Office Hours

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Office of the Colorado Attorney General announced joint, virtual office hours to be held as part of the American Consumer Financial Innovation Network (ACFIN). Joint office hours provide innovators with the opportunity to discuss issues such as financial technology, innovative products or services, and other matters related to financial innovation with officials from the CFPB and state partners.

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Portfolios For Sale

 
$870,279.40 Credit Cards
BAL Financial LLC

(617) 595-5794

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$18,434,991.05 Credit Cards
BAL Financial LLC

(617) 595-5794

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$32,257,187.01 Credit Cards
BAL Financial LLC

(617) 595-5794

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Profiles

 

   Debt Buyer 

Max BPO – Debt Collection Agency

(800) 240-0189

 

Industry Events

 
Collection and Recovery Solutions 2021 (CRS2021)

Resource Management Services, Inc.

Produced by: Resource Management Services, Inc. 10440 Pioneer Blvd., Suite 2 Santa Fe Springs, CA. 90670-8235
Las Vegas , Nevada
May 12 - 14 , 2021

(562) 906-1101

Digital Banking 2020 – December 7 – 9

American Banker

Austin Convention Center 500 East Cesar Chavez Street
Austin , TX
June 08 - November 21 , 2020

(212) 803-8456