Debt settlement agencies serve as advisors to consumers—often those with $10,000 or more in unsecured debt—negotiating on their behalf to reach resolutions with multiple creditors. But for decades, the infrastructure supporting these negotiations has remained largely unchanged.
This year is set to become another record-breaking year for data breaches, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). The ITRC H1 2025 Data Breach Report shows an 11% year-over-year increase in reported data breaches, with 1,732 data compromises tracked by ITRC between January 1, 2025, and June 30, 2025. That’s 54.9% of the full year total for 2024.
While website privacy notices are now commonplace – and consumers might only skim them – a recent settlement highlights the importance of staying vigilant about complying with applicable consumer privacy laws. The Connecticut Attorney General recently reached an $85k settlement with a company whose privacy notice was deemed deficient under the state’s laws. How can you avoid the same fate? If your business is subject to state consumer privacy laws – and most companies are – failure to make sure your privacy notice complies with applicable law could lead to both monetary and non-monetary penalties. Here’s what led to the recent settlement and six steps you can take to ensure compliance.
While May 2023 saw TCPA litigation rise while FDCPA and FCRA litigation both fell, June shows the exact opposite trend.
In June, TCPA (+29.1%) rose while FCRA (-1.2%) and FDCPA (-11.3%) fell. Year to date trends are still on track though, with TCPA (+44.4%) and FCRA (+15.8%) still up from last year and FDCPA (-5.9%) still down. It’s worth noting, however, that the drop in YTD FDCPA claims seems to getting smaller – down from 8-9% over the past few months to that 5.9% we see this month.
On July 14, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) filed a status report announcing its decision not to reissue its Medical Debt Collection Advisory Opinion, which had been issued in 2024 to “remind debt collectors of their obligations to comply with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act [FDCPA] and Regulation F’s prohibition on false, deceptive, or misleading representations or means in connection with the collection of any medical debt and unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect any medical debt.” The Advisory Opinion had been challenged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by ACA International and Collection Bureau Services, Inc.
.jpg)
.jpg)