MIAMI (AP) A federal judge on Monday gave final approval to a $410 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit affecting more than 13 million Bank of America customers who had debit card overdrafts during the past decade. Senior U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King said the agreement was fair and reasonable, even though it drew … Continue reading Judge OKs $410M for Bank of America customers

Recent decisions in New Jersey and Maine demonstrate the growing burden courts are placing on creditors and debt buyers in credit card debt collection actions. In LVNV Funding, LLC v. Colvell, the New Jersey Superior Court ruled that, to win on a summary judgment motion, a party suing on a credit card account must provide … Continue reading Trouble Continues for Credit Card Collection Actions

Consumers are looking for debt consolidation options as a way to find and get relief from various financial obligations, and for consumers who may be in a bad credit situation, the idea of consolidating multiple debts seems more attractive due to the fact that they usually can find more affordability in terms of their overall … Continue reading Alternatives To Debt Consolidation Debt Relief For Consumers With Bad CreditPaying Off Debts Without A Loan

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the largest U.S. home lender, agreed to pay a record $85 million fine to settle Federal Reserve claims it steered borrowers into costlier loans and falsified data in mortgage applications. Employees at Wells Fargo Financial, the lenders consumer- finance unit, pushed customers who may have been eligible for prime interest … Continue reading Wells Fargo Will Pay $85 Million Fine to Settle Feds Subprime-Loan Claims

With the economic downturn, the number of consumer credit-related suits filed in U.S. District Courts in Texas has steadily increased over the past five years. In 2005, 81 such cases were filed in Texas, according to PACER, the federal courts’ online filing system. But in 2010, that number rose to 390. The trend is on … Continue reading What’s Fair Is Fair: Rise in FDCPA Cases Offers Opportunities for Lawyers

The state of Texas sued the nation’s largest bad-debt buyer Friday, accusing Encore Capital Group and two subsidiaries of an unstated number of violations of the state’s regulations on third-party collection practices and the state’s deceptive trade practices act. The state of Texas sued the nations largest bad-debt buyer Friday, accusing Encore Capital Group and … Continue reading State: Debt buyer violated laws

That “little government agency,” as it was described by its staunchest defender, Elizabeth Warren, could end up overseeing tens of thousands of firms when all is said and done. The still-fledgling CFPB has laid out a list of six different types of companies that could soon fall under its wing, including debt relief and check … Continue reading Consumer Protection Agency Could Watch Over ‘100,000 Firms’: WSJ

Everyone seems to have heard of a simple formula for determining when you should consider filing a chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy. The problem is that once you start looking for the formula, it becomes apparent that there are numerous versions, and none of them seem to agree with one another. Many seem to … Continue reading Revealed: The Formula for Determining Whether You Should File for Bankruptcy

A typical U.S. family got poorer during the past 10 years in the first decade-long income decline in at least a half-century, new federal data show. Median household income fell 2.3% to $49,445 last year and has dropped 7% since 2000 after adjusting for inflation, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. Income was the lowest since … Continue reading Typical U.S. family got poorer during the past 10 years

Not the best day to report this, but the IRS says 1,470 millionaires paid no federal income taxes in 2009. Where did the money go? Tax “expenditures” (otherwise known as deductions, write-offs, subsidies or loopholes), charities, municipal bonds and tax payments to foreign governments, according to a recent IRS report (pdf) that ABC News noticed … Continue reading IRS: 1,470 millionaires paid no income tax in ’09