Table of Contents

• Jurisdiction: United States

Table of Contents

I. Introduction ............................................... 1

II. Why Businesses Fail..................................5

A. Th ree Main Reasons for Business Failure....................6

1. Bad Management................................................................6

2. Bad Decisions.....................................................................6

3. Bad Economy......................................................................6

B. The Warning Signs...................................................7

1. Accounts Receivable Aging..................................................7

2. Increasing Leverage.............................................................7

3. Management Turnover ......................................................... 7

4. Defective Management........................................................8

5. Lagging Innovation and Loss of Market Share.........................8

III. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).. 9

A. Which Debts Are Covered?.....................................11

B. Who Is Covered? ....................................................11

C. Affirmative Disclosure Obligations...........................12

D. Prohibited Practices................................................13

E. FDCPA Enforcement................................................15

F. Damages Available .................................................16

IV. Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)..............17

A. Scope of Application ..............................................18

B. Regulated Entities....................................................19

1. Furnishers .........................................................................19

2. CRAs ...............................................................................19

3. Users of Information ...........................................................20

C. FCRA Enforcement..................................................21

V. Consumer Financial Protection

Bureau (CFPB)......................................23

A. The CFPB's Powers..................................................25

B. The Examination Process.........................................26

C. Trends in CFPB Enforcement ....................................27

D. Nuts and Bolts of Enforcement Actions.....................29

VI. Credit Reporting.....................................33

A. D&B Hoover's.........................................................36

B....