A jurist praised by the New York Times for his administration of credit card collection cases was recently the subject of a harsh rebuke from a New York appellate court for the same judicial practices.
Posts published in February 2014
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today announced that 1st Alliance Lending, LLC, a mortgage lender, was assessed a civil monetary penalty of $83,000, arising from illegally splitting real estate settlement fees. In Yes, the CFPB is Serious About Self-Reporting!, I commented last August that the bureau is encouraging regulated entities to self-report, even if unsure whether their conduct violates law. Previously, self-reporting by US Bank had led the CFPB to forgo imposing a civil money penalty against that institution. While today’s announcement includes a civil monetary penalty, it is small compared to the tens of millions in penalties imposed by the bureau…
For several years my attorney ethics presentations and papers have emphasized that lawyer supervision and particularly non-lawyer supervision, in my experience, is an area of concern for attorneys who practice debt collection law. A recent opinion from New York’s Appellate Division, Second Department, concerning the conduct of a debt collection law firm provides an example of the harm that may result from less than robust supervision of attorneys and non-attorney staff. Attorneys who practice debt collection are probably the most “compliance-aware” branch of lawyers today. They are routinely subject to client audits of their practices’ operations and financial records. Some even have ISO…
Speaking as an invited guest to a conference of the Mortgage Bankers Association yesterday in Orlando, Steven Antonakes, deputy director of the Consumer Financial Services Bureau, told the industry group he was “deeply disappointed” by their lack of progress in improving the mortgage servicing industry. Noting that “too many [mortgage] customers continue to receive erratic and unacceptable treatment,” Antonakes added that “[t]his kind of continued sloppiness is difficult to comprehend and not acceptable.” Pointing to the bureau’s new mortgage rules, which became effective Jan. 10, Antonakes warned the mortgage servicers “it is time for the paper chase to end.” The CFPB’s…
The Fourth Circuit has joined the Second and Ninth circuits to hold that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act does not require consumers to dispute debts in writing. (Clark v. Absolute Collection Serv., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 1939 (4th Cir. Jan. 31, 2014)). In a short per curiam opinion on Jan. 31, the Fourth Circuit adopted the reasoning of the Second and Ninth circuits and held that 15 USC 1692g(a)(3) permits a consumer to dispute the validity of a debt orally based on a plain reading of the statute. Citing Hooks v. Forman, Hold, Eliades & Ravin, LLC, 717 F.3d…