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DEBT BUYERS WILL NEED TO WORK HARDER TO RESOLVE CREDIT DISPUTES
- An appeals court ruling that was announced late last week will mean that debt buyers have to undertake more thorough investigations of disputes initiated by individuals. When purchasing the portfolios, the debt buyer in this case did not receive account-level information, nor did it ask for it when an individual disputed the validity of a debt that the purchaser was trying to collect. An appeals court ruled that whatever the purchaser did, did not meet the threshold of a “reasonable” as laid out by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT UNVEILS GUIDELINES FOR SERVICERS TO TAKE GENTLER APPROACH TO STUDENT LOAN COLLECTIONS
- The Department of Education, working with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Treasury Department, unveiled a new set of student loan servicing guidelines yesterday, intended to put all federally guaranteed student loans on the same playing field. Servicers would have to shift their philosophies to being more consultative and working with borrowers to manage or discharge the debt, instead of focusing on collecting what is owed. The guidelines are meant to address the rapidly increasing amount of student loan debt carried by individuals, a debt burden that many feel is becoming too much for those individuals to bear. This new approach may be good news to individuals in Maine, West Virginia, and Mississippi, three of the states with the highest amounts of student loan debt. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee wants the federal government to get out of the student loan business altogether.
PLAINTIFF MUST PROVE DEFENDANT’S NET WORTH WHEN BRINGING FDCPA CLAIMS
- A district court has dismissed a claim that the defendant bears the burden of proof if a plaintiff is attempting to determine the net worth of a defendant when determining statutory damages for a claim under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Under the FDCPA, as it pertains to class-actions suits brought against debt collectors, the limit on the amount that can be recovered is: not to exceed the lesser of $500,000 or 1% of the net worth of the debt collector.
AUSTRALIAN FIRM RAISES $1.25 MILLION TO EXPAND COLLECTION PLATFORM
- An Australian company, ezyCollect, has raised $1.25 million in funding to expand its technology offering and possibly expand to the United States. The company offers small and medium-sized businesses a cloud-based collections platform that integrates into their accounting software and automates their accounts receivables operations. The process includes automatic follow-up emails, text messages, and dispute management.
WHAT THE CFPB HAS ACCOMPLISHED IN FIVE YEARS
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau turns five years old today. While it’s not likely that there will be a cake in the break room this afternoon at many of the companies that are regulated by the agency, here is a list of what the CFPB has accomplished in its five years of existence, and what’s left for it to take on next.
WORTH NOTING: Working more than 25 hours a week may be bad for you, especially if you’re over 40 … A question we are debating in our own house: at what age should kids get a smartphone? … Ten founders of million-dollar companies share their morning routines … Senator Ted Cruz was booed off the stage at the Republican National Convention last night after he did not endorse Donald Trump for president and told people to “vote their conscience” … Hand it to Tesla CEO Elon Musk; he’s ambitious … The cities with the people who are the worst at managing their money … CEOs wrote an open letter to discuss best practices in corporate governance … Corporate directors at Fortune 500 companies made more than $250,000 last year … A writer goes a week without his smartphone and lives to tell about it … The inspiring things that CEOs say to themselves every day … Your office is making you fat.
Carpool karaoke with first lady Michelle Obama
Having some fun with Melania Trump’s speech
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The Daily Digest is sponsored by TCN, a leading provider of cloud-based call center technology for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs, and collection agencies worldwide.
