This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reached a settlement with a credit repair organization (CRO) conglomerate, which includes payment of $2.7 billion and a 10-year ban on telemarketing activities. The settlement comes after a court ruled that the defendants violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR).
AFSA commends the Bureau for this effort to hold these credit repair organizations to account for what amounts to nothing more than a scam. CROs lure consumers into a complex and expensive web of services they claim will boost credit scores, using such tactics as lodging hundreds of complaints with credit bureaus. This accomplishes nothing but to line the pockets of CROs with money from hardworking Americans while crowding the credit bureau’s reporting systems, making it more difficult to process legitimate claims.
“This scam is another sign that we must do more to fix the credit reporting and scoring system in our country,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra noted in the CFPB’s press release.
We agree that this action is a good step forward in controlling the scourge of CROs.… but there is more to be done. AFSA is concerned that former employees of these companies will join or start smaller companies which will continue to defraud consumers, or that existing companies will explore ways to reach consumers without violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule. That’s why AFSA continues to work with Congress to pass legislation limiting credit repair scams.
The Bureau Protects Consumers from Credit Repair Scams
Aug 29, 2023
This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reached a settlement with a credit repair organization (CRO) conglomerate, which includes payment of $2.7 billion and a 10-year ban on telemarketing activities. The settlement… Read the rest
AFSA Comments on NYDFS Updated Proposed Cybersecurity Amendment
Aug 25, 2023
AFSA’s State Government Affairs team sent a letter to the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) regarding its recent revised proposed second amendment to the DFS cybersecurity regulations. In the letter, AFSA highlights concerns… Read the rest
Elevate in Salt Lake | Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT)
Aug 24, 2023
AFSA is pleased to announce U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) as the featured speaker at breakfast on Wednesday, October 4 at the 2023 Annual Meeting.
Congressman Moore serves on the House Ways and Means and Budget Committees, and in his first term… Read the rest
Disabusing the CFPB
Aug 24, 2023
Earlier this year the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a policy statement intended to explain the legal prohibition on abusive conduct in consumer financial markets. At the time, we called it a perhaps-well-intended-but-flawed… Read the rest
News from our Members | Alfa Joins AWS Partner Network
Aug 22, 2023
Alfa, the market-leading provider of software for the asset finance industry, is proud to announce the completion of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Foundational Technical Review (FTR) for Alfa Cloud, its single-tenant Software-as-a-Service… Read the rest
Elevate in Salt Lake | Chris Waddell
Aug 22, 2023
AFSA is pleased to announce that U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Famer, Chris Waddell, will be the inaugural Level Up Luncheon speaker at our Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City.
Waddell, a world-class athlete and founder of the One-Revolution… Read the rest
AFSA Calls on CFPB to Address 1071 Disparities
Aug 21, 2023
Last week, the American Financial Services Association (AFSA) led a group of trade associations in submitting a comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, urging the agency to address the disparities that exists for financial… Read the rest
AFSA Comments on NYDFS Updated Proposed Cybersecurity Amendment
Aug 18, 2023
AFSA’s State Government Affairs team sent a letter to the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) regarding its recent revised proposed second amendment to the DFS cybersecurity regulations. In the letter, AFSA highlights concerns… Read the rest
Financial Flexibility More Important Than Ever
Aug 17, 2023
We’re still a couple weeks away from Labor Day, but it’s probably not early enough to remind ourselves that consumers are paying more than $700 a month more on average for groceries, gas, and other goods and services than they did two years ago.… Read the rest
News from our Members | PayNearMe on CNBC’s Global Top 200 Fintech List
Aug 15, 2023
PayNearMe has been named one of the World’s Top 200 Fintech Companies by CNBC. The company is included as one of the world’s top 40 digital payments companies. This award recognizes PayNearMe’s cutting-edge payments technology platform,… Read the rest