February 22, 2024 (SAINT PAUL) – Today Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced his office has secured a settlement that stops three online lenders from conducting predatory lending and collecting illegal interest. In October 2023, Attorney General Ellison sued three online lenders through their managers — Bright Lending, Green Trust Cash, and Target Cash Now, operating jointly under control of a single entity called the Island Mountain Development Group — for issuing thousands of loans to consumers in Minnesota that charged between 400 and 800 percent annual interest, in violation of Minnesota and federal consumer-lending laws.
After a successful appeal of a June ruling, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) is authorized to begin immediate enforcement of privacy regulations developed, and expanded, under the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA). Any company that has been relying on the nine-month enforcement delay is now required to implement the polices and regulations required by the CPRA to avoid penalization by the CPPA.
The Federal Trade Commission will require software provider Avast to pay $16.5 million and prohibit the company from selling or licensing any web browsing data for advertising purposes to settle charges that the company and its subsidiaries sold such information to third parties after promising that its products would protect consumers from online tracking.
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.
.jpg)
.jpg)