Save Money During the Recession

December 1, 2010

Whether you want to admit it or not, there’s a global recession happening, and it’s affecting millions of families. People are being laid off, companies are going under, and even some state governments are completely broke. Finding ways to cut back on your spending can help you during this difficult economic period. Saving money is [...]

Read the full article →

Allied Interstate Settles with FTC for $1.75 Million

November 29, 2010

Allied Interstate Inc., a large collection agency based in Minnesota, will pay $1.75 million to settle federal allegations that employees repeatedly tried to collect debts from the wrong person. The penalty is the second largest civil fine obtained by the FTC against a collection agency. The largest settlement involved Academy Collection Service Inc. According to [...]

Read the full article →

Settlement Reached in Fraudulent Payment Processing Operation

November 26, 2010

The former president of a payment processing company has agreed to settle charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission and seven states for his role in an operation that allegedly debited more than $200 million in bogus charges from consumers’ bank accounts. Derrelle Janey was president of Your Money Access LLC from 2003 to 2006. [...]

Read the full article →

Debt Collector Ordered to Stop Collections in Maryland

November 23, 2010

Maryland’s financial regulators have ordered a Kansas firm to stop collecting debts from Maryland residents, alleging that the company repeatedly tried to collect on illegal payday loans despite being warned not to do so. Smith Haynes & Watson’s debt-collection license was suspended by Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation after receiving complaints from state [...]

Read the full article →

Class Actions at Stake in Supreme Court Case

November 19, 2010

We may be facing the death of class actions. On November 9th, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of AT&T v. Concepcion. This is an important case because if the Supreme Court agrees with AT&T, corporations will be able to effectively eliminate class actions by simply inserting a class action ban in their [...]

Read the full article →

FICO Report Shows Growing Credit Gap

November 16, 2010

FICO reports that a credit gap for consumers will grow as lenders expect credit availability to fall short of consumer demand through the end of 2010. The quarterly survey of bank risk professionals found that 73% of respondents expect the volume of credit applications to increase or remain steady over the next six months. However, 46% of [...]

Read the full article →

Debt Management Firm to Pay $4.5 Million Settlement

November 12, 2010

AscendOne Corp., a Columbia, Maryland based debt management business, will pay $4.5 million to settle charges that the company misled consumers about its for-profit status. Twenty state attorneys general alleged the company and its owner wrongly told consumers they would receive debt management services from nonprofit organizations when, in fact, AscendOne performed the services. The [...]

Read the full article →

FTC Settlement Stops Credit Repair Scam

November 8, 2010

A credit repair operation agreed to stop making false claims and stop charging upfront fees under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The settlement agreement requires that Clean Credit Report Services Inc., Ricardo A. Miranda, Ruthy Villabona, and their son, Daniel R. Miranda give up two cars, three houses and six commercial properties. According [...]

Read the full article →

Late Mortgage Payments Continue

November 5, 2010

The number of mortgage holders 60 days or more behind on their payments was 6.67% in the three months ended June 30, up from 5.81% a year ago, reports credit-reporting agency TransUnion. Because it would be difficult for homeowners to make up two payments to bring their account current, TransUnion uses a 60-day delinquency rate [...]

Read the full article →

Settlements Reached With Several Mortgage Modification Firms

October 28, 2010

Several companies are banned from selling mortgage modification or foreclosure relief services under settlements with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC alleged that the companies charged homeowners upfront fees and falsely claimed they could get their mortgage loans modified or prevent foreclosure on their homes. The settlements in three separate actions are part of the [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →