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7 Ways to Recover Attorney Fees When Debtors Prevail in a Collection Lawsuit

A recent appellate court ruling highlights the availability of attorney fees for the consumer when a creditor or debt buyer fails to prevail in a credit card or other collection action. This article sets out seven ways in which consumers can recover such attorney fees if the creditor fails in its collection lawsuit.

12 Ways to Avoid Arbitration Even After Congress Overturned the CFPB Arbitration Rule

On October 24 the Senate joined the House in repealing the CFPB Arbitration Rule that would have eliminated forced arbitration clauses containing class action bans in consumer financial contracts. This article lists twelve ways to still defeat a forced arbitration clause, even for class actions.

12 Ways to Recover Even When Lemon Used Cars Are Sold “As Is”

Too often consumers and even their attorneys believe an “as is” sale immunizes the dealer from the sale of a lemon used car. This article lays out twelve ways that consumers can still recover significant damages for vehicle defects and dealer misrepresentations.

A Reverse Mortgage Primer: Consumer Debt Advice from NCLC

Reverse mortgages are one way that families in financial distress can tap into the equity in their homes to meet their needs. This article provides advice for consumers on who should consider a reverse mortgage, how it works, foreclosure risks, impacts on spouses, partners, and heirs, and whether it is a good idea.

About the Public Justice Foundation

The Public Justice Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable educational and membership organization dedicated to using attorneys’ skills and resources to advance the public good. It supports the cutting-edge legal work of Public Justice, P.C., a national public interest law firm that uses high impact litigation to pursue justice for victims of corporate and government abuse, and to keep the courthouse doors open for ordinary people to have their day in court. Public Justice’s Mandatory Arbitration Abuse Prevention Project has challenged and defeated in court more abusiv

All 25 FDCPA Appellate Decisions from 2019 in a Nutshell

This article reviews all 25 published Fair Debt Collection Practices Act appellate court decisions from 2019 broken down by category. FDCPA rulings were published by the Supreme Court and the Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits.

Bad News for Debt Collectors

An FCC ruling this summer tightens the screws on collectors calling or texting cell phones, with TCPA minimum damages of $500 per call or text. Limits on wrong number calls or texts, no autodialed calls without consent, and it is now easy to withdraw that consent, as explained in this article.

Ban on Arbitration of Nursing Home Disputes Preliminarily Enjoined

A Mississippi federal court on November 7 preliminarily enjoined a new federal rule that would have banned arbitration clauses in nursing home and other long-term care contracts, as described in this updated article.

Bankruptcy News: Added Veterans’ Protections; New Rules; Student Loan Dischargeability

This article describes important new legislation providing added protections for veterans, servicemembers, and their dependents in bankruptcy cases. It also analyzes new bankruptcy rules, effective December 1, 2019, and a must-read Fifth Circuit decision on the ability to discharge private student loans.

Big Changes for Credit Reports, Improving Accuracy for Millions of Consumers

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.

Birdseye View of All 2018 FDCPA Reported Appellate Decisions

This article summarizes all 34 FDCPA reported appellate decisions issued in 2018, reports on a pending Supreme Court FDCPA case, and describes NCLC’s digital tool to locate relevant FDCPA case summaries from summaries of over 14,000 FDCPA decisions.

CFPB Issues Final Rule Regulating Payday Loans

The CFPB issued its final “payday lending rule” on October 5, not effective until 2019. This free article describes the rule’s application to high-interest loans and sets out a list of other currently applicable challenges to such lending.

CFPB Proposed Rule: No Mandatory Arbitration for Class Actions

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on May 5 released its proposed rule that would largely eliminate mandatory arbitration of financial services class actions. A summary of the proposal and a listing of other limits on mandatory arbitration is found here.

CFPB Report Details Problems, New Requirements Consumer Reporting Companies Must Implement

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.

Checklist to Defend Enforcement of Criminal Justice Debt

As states increasingly assess criminal defendants with fines, surcharges, costs, and fees, draconian actions to collect that debt are on the rise. This checklist sets out tools to help consumers avoid the worst of these collection actions that can lead to incarceration, loss of driver’s licenses, wage garnishment, seizure of bank accounts, or other drastic measures.

Class Arbitration After Supreme Court’s April 24 Lamps Plus Decision

The Supreme Court has just made it harder, but not impossible, for consumers to proceed in arbitration on a class basis. An ambiguous provision is insufficient to authorize class arbitration, but this article explains how language commonly found in arbitration agreements might still be found to authorize class arbitration.

Class Waivers Under Attack on Another Front

The Seventh Circuit on May 26 ruled that the National Labor Relations Act prohibits enforcement of class waivers against employees. This article explains the case and its implications for challenges to arbitration of both employment and consumer disputes.

Congress Amends Eight Consumer Statutes

On May 24, the President signed legislation amending eight consumer statutes—everything from rights of tenants in foreclosed property to mortgage originations to private student loans to credit reporting. This article highlights the changes—both harmful and helpful for consumers.

Consumer Law Changes Taking Effect in 2019

This article lists federal and state consumer law changes scheduled to become effective in 2019. That is, the listing includes consumer law changes enacted in 2018 or earlier, but scheduled to go into effect in 2019.

Consumer Law Changes Taking Effect in 2020

This article lists federal and state consumer law changes that already are scheduled to go into effect in 2020. The article also lists several changes that were effective in December of 2019. Of course, other consumer law changes will be enacted later this year and go into effect this year; this article lists those changes whose effective dates have already been scheduled for this year.

Courts in 2019 Reshape the TCPA in 8 Ways—Mostly to the Good

As discussed in this article, a slew of 2019 court rulings are reshaping private litigation against robocallers. The federal student loan collectors’ exemption was declared unconstitutional; the Supreme Court issued smoke signals on the weight given FCC orders; the TCPA was ruled applicable to new types of robocalls; cases interpreted whether predictive dialers are covered; and Spokeo challenges generally lost.

Credit Discrimination Statutes Offer Underutilized Consumer Remedies

A September 3, 2020, HUD action to limit Fair Housing Act disparate impact claims underscores the underutilized power of credit discrimination statutes to remedy marketplace misconduct affecting communities of color and other vulnerable consumers. This article describes the power, broad scope, and varied applications of federal and state credit discrimination statutes, and also sets out the implications for consumer lawyers of the HUD rule change.

Criminal Justice Debt: Consumer Debt Advice from NCLC

Widespread criminal justice debt—arising from fines, fees, costs, and more—has an outsized impact on consumers, including millions of drivers losing their licenses, seizure of income and assets, and even incarceration. This article provides advice on limiting these consequences and asserting rights against collection of criminal justice debt.

Current Options to Lower Mortgage Payments: Consumer Debt Advice from NCLC

This article explains options homeowners in financial trouble currently have to delay or reduce their mortgage payments. The latest guidelines are set out for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, and RHS mortgage loans. The article also provides advice on applying for these options and deciding which option to select.

Annotate and Highlight Your NCLC Online Treatises

Subscribers can now, for their own future use, annotate text or highlight selected passages of their NCLC online treatises, and then rapidly return to those notes. This article explains these and other new NCLC online features.