WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today issued an interpretive rule that confirms that Buy Now, Pay Later lenders are credit card providers. Accordingly, Buy Now, Pay Later lenders must provide consumers some key legal protections and rights that apply to conventional credit cards.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is issuing an interpretive rule to make clear that the business practices of lenders marketing their loans as “Buy Now, Pay Later” will typically trigger the consumer protections in existing federal law and regulation, including those related to billing disputes and refunds.
Back in school during statistics class, I remember thinking, “When will I ever use this stuff?” Population size, variance, and margin of error—all critical components of establishing a statistically valid sample size—seemed like distant concepts at the time. That convoluted formula we had to memorize felt more like a test of endurance than a practical tool. Yet, here I am in the world of collections, realizing the importance of those statistical principles. Reviewing calls and accounts managed by a third-party vendor demands a solid grasp of sample size challenges.
On May 9, 2024, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act No. 24-6, “An Act Concerning the Reporting of Medical Debt,” (The Act). The Act prohibits health care providers from reporting medical debt to credit rating agencies and makes various updates to existing laws regarding the reporting of medical debt already applicable to hospitals and collection agents.
On May 9, 2024, Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed into law Senate Bill 541 (the "Maryland Online Data Privacy Act") making Maryland the eighteenth state to adopt comprehensive data privacy legislation in the United States ("US State Data Privacy Laws"). The Maryland Online Data Privacy Act will take effect on October 1, 2025.
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