Nearly every adult with a credit history is at risk of identity theft after the recent Equifax data breach. In this free article, NCLC offers key advice for consumers, with specific steps that can be taken to minimize the risks—freezes, thaws, fraud alerts, credit monitoring, and more.

Lenders may lose their right to foreclose by waiting too many years after accelerating the loan or where a prior foreclosure litigation has been dismissed. This article explains these novel defenses and lists other foreclosure defenses.

New CFPB mortgage servicing rules offer homeowners key protections. In the last year, over thirty significant decisions interpret the new CFPB mortgage servicing rules. This article provides a roadmap to detailed analyses of the recent federal circuit and district court decisions.

This article highlights two key new developments limiting arbitration of FDCPA and other claims against debt buyers and collectors: a AAA letter about Midland Funding and an important Eleventh Circuit ruling.

NCLC has just released in print and online Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices (9th ed. Dec. 2016) (1011 pp.). This article sets out what subscribers and non-subscribers should know about the new edition.

As described in this article, two dramatic changes to consumer credit reporting become effective this summer, scaling back reporting of tax liens, civil judgments, and medical debt. The result will be improved accuracy and higher credit scores for millions of consumers.

The Supreme Court on June 12 in Henson held that debt buyers are not covered under the FDCPA’s second definition of debt collector because they do not collect debts owed to another. This article explains the ruling and details why the FDCPA still applies to debt buyers.

On July 10, the CFPB issued its long-awaited final rule allowing class actions to proceed in court despite arbitration requirements. This article examines the new rule’s practice implications, outlines other arbitration developments, and provides a thumbnail guide to arbitration issues.

In Sheriff v. Gillie, 578 U.S. __ (2016), a unanimous Supreme Court on May 16 held in a narrowly-crafted decision that attorneys hired as special counsel by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for the collection of debts owed to state institutions do not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) when they use the Ohio Attorney General’s letterhead together with a disclosure that they...

A May 15 Supreme Court decision is just one of the recent developments concerning arbitration clauses in nursing home contracts. This article explains the decision and other challenges to arbitration requirements in nursing home agreements.

This article examines the FDCPA implications of the Supreme Court’s May 15 decision in Midland Funding LLC v. Johnson that a collector filing a bankruptcy proof of claim on a time-barred debt is not an FDCPA violation.

The Supreme Court’s May 1 ruling in Bank of America v. City of Miami allows that city to continue its housing discrimination claims for banks’ predatory lending. This article explains how discrimination law is a useful tool to attack unfair lending practices.

This article summarizes a number of recent amendments to state debt collection legislation. This legislation should always be considered in addition to the requirements of the FDCPA.

Eleventh edition of Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice (2 vol.) (1568 pp.) now released in print and online. Click here for highlights, including detailed guidance completing the new official forms and 170 sample pleadings in Word.

The IRS has begun hiring private collectors to collect on delinquent tax obligations, and this article explains why these collectors are subject to Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requirements and remedies.

The Supreme Court’s March 29 decision in Expressions Hair Design may spark increased First Amendment challenges to consumer protection regulations. This article explains why the Court’s decision and prior precedents weigh against such challenges.

Two Supreme Court oral arguments in FDCPA cases, five Circuit Court rulings on the FDCPA and foreclosures, and another on collection of time barred debt are some of the recent FDCPA highlights described in this article.

Increasingly, consumers forced into arbitration seek to avail themselves of that process, but are frustrated by the defendant’s refusal to pay or otherwise participate in the proceeding. This article describes a state supreme court’s solution—the consumer can then go to court.

On March 2, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a 23 page Supervisory Highlights Consumer Reporting Special Edition discussing numerous problems and deficiencies that it found during its examinations at the "Big Three" nationwide consumer reporting companies (CRCs), i.e. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Of even greater significance, the report sets out reforms that the...

As detailed in this article, a March CFPB report sets out serious problems uncovered by exams at the Big Three consumer reporting companies and details significant new reforms that these companies must implement to protect consumers.