June 2015

Webinar to Explore FDCPA and Estimates of Mortgage Lenders’ Costs

June 24, 2015 — Maurice Wutscher will give a webinar on July 9, exploring the FDCPA and estimates of mortgage lenders’ costs.

Providing statements of the amount due, or of the amount required to cure a default – such as in Notices of Intention to Foreclose, periodic statements, and the like — has become risky for mortgage servicers under a recent ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The ruling, Kaymark v. Bank of America, involved a foreclosure complaint, which included projected fees and costs that had not yet been incurred at the time the complaint was filed. Ultimately the costs were incurred, but the court found that the foreclosure complaint’s inclusion of the projected fees and costs in the amounts due stated a claim for violation of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

Kaymark likely impacts what a mortgage servicer can include in periodic statements, Notices of Intent to Foreclose, and other disclosures of amounts due or amounts required to cure a default, at least in the Third Circuit (Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Virgin Islands).

For more information and to register, click here.

Webinar to Examine FCC’s TCPA Declaratory Rulings

July 13, 2015 — Maurice Wutscher will give a webinar on July 17 on the FCC’s TCPA declaratory rulings, which are expected to have a substantial impact on the financial services industry. The webinar has been rescheduled due to the delay in the release of the package of rulings.

The webinar will examine:

Dialer Technology

What do the rulings say about predictive dialers, preview dialers and future dialing technology? What does the FCC mean what it talks about “capacity” and “calling from a list of numbers?” Can you ever be certain that your equipment is not an ATDS?

Consent

What do the rulings mean for the manner, content or means a businesses must use to obtain prior, express consent to call a customer’s cellphone using an “automated telephone dialing system” or prerecorded message? And who provides the consent?

Revocation of Consent

The rulings allow consent to be withdrawn orally or in writing “through any reasonable means.” The FCC interprets the TCPA as not allowing callers to define the manner in which revocation can occur. We’ll discuss how revocation issues have been litigated and how that litigation will likely evolve as a result of the rulings.

Relief from Liability for Calling Reassigned Numbers

The risks of dialing a reassigned number using an ATDS remain large and it is likely to stay that way given the limited relief provided by the rulings. We’ll explore the “one call” exception and give our take on what role it can play going forward.

“Urgent” Information Calls

ATDS calls that would alert a consumer to certain events get special treatment. We will look at what kind of calls can qualify.

“Dual Purpose” and Telemarketing Calls

The rulings address the content of prior express written consent for “dual purpose” and telemarketing calls as well as whether all forms of prior express written consent obtained before the October 2013 rule change are effective. The rulings’ interpretation of these issues will be of special interest to lenders and loan servicers.

For more information and to register, click here.