SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today that debt collection agency Harris & Harris will pay his office $1 million to resolve a lawsuit, which asserted the company unlawfully collected medical payments from more than 160,000 Washington patients without providing them with disclosures about their rights when faced with medical debt. By excluding those disclosures, Harris & Harris created barriers that kept patients from learning about and accessing financial assistance on their hospital bills.
By some measures, credit cards have never been this expensive. For cardholders who carry a balance without paying it off in full each month, issuers generally charge interest based on annual percentage rates (APRs). In 2022 alone, major credit card companies charged over $105 billion in interest, the primary cost of credit cards to consumers.
ACA International supported the rule to stop the scams, which have impacted nonprofit associations through trade show attendee lists and fraudulent use of logos.
Bringing the two credit card giants together would pave the path toward creating a banking giant with particular expertise in serving the paycheck-to-paycheck consumer well beyond the credit cards that have been hallmarks of both firms. It would also leverage data and cross-border capabilities to forge a banking ecosystem.
On February 16, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued revisions to its supervisory appeals process. The Bureau’s supervisory appeals process has not changed since 2015, and the Bureau’s announcement notes that these new revisions “broaden the Bureau officials eligible to evaluate appealed matters, the options for resolving an appeal, and the matters subject to appeal.”
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