Editorial News

ARM 2025: Technology Adoption and Regulatory Uncertainty Ahead

Technology adoption and potential regulatory changes will be top of mind for collections agencies for 2025. Technology will help increase agency efficiency and increase collections. And potential regulatory changes could result in substantial changes to the collections landscape. Here is a brief look…

CFPB Aims to Stop Debt Collectors From Contacting Borrowers at Work

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is working to prevent unlawful debt collection targeting consumers at their workplace. The regulator said in a Thursday (Jan. 2) blog post that it continues to crack down on companies that harass consumers, pointing to actions it took in 2014 and 2018 against…

Mortgage demand dives nearly 22% to end 2024

A sharp rise in mortgage interest rates toward the end of December took its toll on mortgage demand, hitting just as the housing market entered its typically slowest stretch of the year. Total mortgage application volume for the two weeks…

FTC Sends More Than $540,000 in Refunds to Consumers Harmed by Phantom and Abusive Debt Collection Scheme

The Federal Trade Commission is sending more than $540,000 in refunds to consumers who paid a group of abusive debt collectors who threatened consumers with lawsuits or arrest if they failed to pay debt that they might not have even…

How did Kamala Harris’s campaign rack up a debt after record fundraising?

It was a record-breaking fundraising campaign: Vice President Kamala Harris raised more than $1bn in less than four months, during which she strove to win the US presidency, after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race in July. Now, as the dust…

U.S. October budget deficit jumps to $257 billion, handing hole to Trump

WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. budget deficit jumped nearly four-fold to $257 billion in October, a figure inflated by one-off factors, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday in a report that started off a new fiscal year with…

California Expands Rosenthal Act to Cover ‘Small Business’ Debt Collection

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed SB 1286 amending the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s coverage to certain commercial debt. Prior to this amendment, the RFDCPA’s restrictions applied only to certain debt collectors and creditors collecting consumer debt. The amendments are…

US sovereign credit default swaps rise on election, debt ceiling jitters

NEW YORK, Oct 24 (Reuters) – The cost of insuring exposure to U.S. government debt has climbed to its highest in nearly one year, suggesting investors are getting nervous about a U.S. presidential election outcome that could make the government…

Treasury likely to keep debt plans in place before US elections

NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) – The Treasury Department may offer fresh guidance on expected increases in its 2025 debt auctions when it announces its updated refunding plans this week, though uncertainty over the Nov. 5 U.S. elections likely means any details…

Social Security’s death benefit has been $255 since 1954. Some senators want to change that

When a Social Security beneficiary dies, their loved ones may qualify for a one-time $255 lump-sum death payment. Yet that amount has not changed in 70 years — since 1954 — while inflation has pushed the costs for funerals higher. On Wednesday, Sen.…