Consumer Law & Policy Blog

FTC report on the Do Not Call Registry

The Federal Trade Commission today issued its biennial report to Congress on the National Do Not Call Registry. The report notes that more than 244 million consumers have placed their telephone numbers on the Registry. As reported in the FTC's November 2021 National Do Not Call Registry Data Book, the agency received more than five million Do Not Call complaints in fiscal year 2021, with people overwhelmingly reporting that these violations came via robocalls, as opposed to live telemarketing.

CFPB report on consumer complaint response deficiencies of the big three credit bureaus

This Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today issued a report on the effect of changes in complaint responses provided by nationwide consumer reporting companies. The CFPB found that the changes resulted in fewer meaningful responses and less consumer relief: In 2021, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion together reported relief in response to less than 2% of covered complaints, down from nearly 25% of covered complaints in 2019.

Federal law requires Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to conduct a review of certain complaints sent to them by the CFPB to determine whether all of their legal obligations have been met with respect to the subject matter of the complaint and then to report their determinations and actions to the CFPB. According to the report, However, more than 50% of these complaints did not receive this review, and many consumers did not receive meaningful responses to complaints submitted through the CFPB complaint process.

The CFPB also reported that Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion relied heavily on template complaint responses instead of providing meaningful and thorough responses to consumers, despite having up to 60 calendar days to respond. And in many instances, Equifax and TransUnion promised to investigate but failed to provide the outcomes of their investigations to the CFPB and instead stated that they would forward the complaints to their “dispute channel.”

The CFPB's press release, with a link to the report, is here.

NCLC list of changes to consumer law taking effect in 2022

The National Consumer Law Center has published, here, a list of federal and state consumer law rights scheduled to go into effect or to expire during the period from November 30, 2021, through the end of 2022. Topics include laws related to debt collection, bankruptcy, student loans, and medical debt.

New York caps interest rate on money judgments arising from consumer debt

On New Year's Eve, New York's Governor Hochul signed the Fair Consumer Judgment Interest Act, which caps interest rates on money judgments arising out of consumer debt, including medical and student debt, at two percent. The law, which will take effect in four months, will apply to all money judgments arising from consumer debt, including judgments that are not yet fully paid and satisfied as of the effective date of the act. An earlier press release, here, from the Community Service Society has more information about the new law.