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Facebook, it seems, has developed a system of rating users trustworthiness. It’s not clear if this is just a system for internal use or if users’ trustworthiness scores are for sale to third parties, but if the latter, then would sure seem that Facebook is a Consumer Reporting Agency

Older Americans (age 65 and over) are increasingly likely to file bankruptcy and now comprise a larger proportion of the people who file bankruptcy — and the effects are not small. Using data from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, in a new working paper just posted to SSRN — Graying of

A federal district judge ruled Thursday that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) violates the Constitution, countering a January ruling from a federal appeals court. Judge Loretta Preska of the Southern District of New York ruled that the CFPB’s creation as an independent agency with a director

An Alabama man has been awarded $3 million by a jury after finding Experian Information Solutions guilty of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by not investigating a debt on the man’s credit report. The man — Shaun Younger — noticed a debt that did not belong to him on

The Eviction Lab, a project led by sociologist Matthew Desmond (author of Evicted), have performed the invaluable and impressive task of gathering landlord-tenant eviction records from every county in the nation for the past 16 years. The sobering results, released today (NY Times story) paint a picture

As if the power to garnish wages without going to court, seize federal income tax refunds and charge 25% collection fees weren’t enough, debt collectors have now persuaded the Education Department to free them from state consumer protection laws when they collect defaulted student loans. Bloomberg News reports that a

Even if you owe money on past-due student loan payments, debt collectors may not use abusive tactics with you. A federal statute called the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) regulates debt collectors in Georgia and every other state. Therefore, if debt collection agents violate the FDCPA, they break the

According to a recent article from The New York Times, approximately 8,700 professional licenses were documented as seized in the U.S. in recent years. Sadly, this number most likely represents a fraction of the actual number of licenses revoked due to unpaid student loan debt. Out of the 19

Richard Cordray, the embattled director of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced Wednesday that he will leave the agency by the end of November. “I am confident that you will continue to move forward, nurture this institution we have built together, and maintain its essential value to the American public,” Cordray

Getting a call from a debt collector can be stressful. But it can be downright frightening when the caller uses lies, profanity and threats to try to get you to pay. In a case announced today, the FTC says a debt collection operation in Charlotte, NC pretended to be