CFPB Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-05 on deals with debt collection and consumer reporting practices involving invalid nursing home debts. Under the Nursing Home Reform Act, a nursing facility may not condition a resident’s admission or continued stay on receiving a guarantee of payment from a third party, such as a relative or friend. Contractual provisions that violate that prohibition are illegal and unenforceable.
This notification letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and the CFPB is directed to the attention of nursing facilities and debt collectors. It reminds them that the Nursing Home Reform Act (NHRA) prohibits nursing facilities from requesting or requiring that a third party personally guarantee payment to the facility as a condition of a resident’s admission or continued stay in the facility. Contract terms that conflict with the NHRA are unlawful, and alleged debts resulting from such unlawful contract terms are invalid and unenforceable.
This CFPB Amicus Brief before the Seventh Circuit in Hopkins v. Collecto deals with whether a debt collector violate the FDCPA by accurately stating that the debt it is seeking to collect includes $0.00 in interest and collection fees, including when interest and collection fees are not currently accruing.
This CFPB amicus brief before the Seventh Circuit in DeGroot v. Client Services deals with two questions. 1. Does a debt collector violate the FDCPA by accurately itemizing the interest and fees that are included in a debt it is seeking to collect, including when the interest and fees are $0.00? 2. Does a debt collector violate the FDCPA by accurately disclosing as part of a time-limited settlement offer that interest will not be charged
while the collector services the consumer’s account?
The CFPB amicus brief before the 11th Circuit in Wiley v. Notte & Kreyling, P.C.deals with advising consumers to dispute a debt with the creditor and not the collector. The FDCPA requires that debt collectors disclose the specific steps consumers must take to properly dispute a debt or request information about the original creditor.
The FDCPA requires a debt collector, in certain situations, to “send the consumer a written notice containing” information about the debt and the consumer’s rights. 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a). The question addressed in this amicus brief is: Whether the requirements of the E-SIGN Act, 15 U.S.C. § 7001-7006, apply when a debt collector wants to use an email to satisfy the written-notice requirement of § 1692g(a).
The Seventh Circuit invited the CFPB to present an amicus brief in Preston v. Midland Credit Management. The issue presented deals with the fact that the FDCPA prohibits debt collectors from “using any language or symbol, other than the debt collector’s address, on any envelope when communicating with a consumer by use of the mails or by telegram, except that a debt collector may use his business name if such name does not indicate that he is in the debt collection business.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692f(8).
CFPB Bulletin 2022-01: Medical Debt Collection and Consumer Reporting Requirements in Connection with the No Surprises Act, 87 Fed. Reg. 3025 (Jan.
CFPB Bulletin 2021-03: Consumer Reporting of Rental Information, 86 Fed. Reg.
FDCPA section 1692f(1) prohibits debt collectors from collecting any amount (including any interest, fee, charge, or expense incidental to the principal obligation), unless that amount is expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or permitted by law. The CFPB issues this advisory opinion, at 87 Fed. Reg.