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Credit-card pitches are moving from the mailbox to the social-media feed as several big card issuers recently increased spending on Facebook ads in an effort to attract new borrowers, the Wall Street Journal reported. Capital One Financial Corp. and American Express Co. spent an estimated $18.6 million and $13.5 million, respectively, on Facebook ads meant to sign up new consumer-credit-card holders in 2018, according to Mintel Comperemedia’s analysis of data from digital marketing intelligence firm Pathmatics, up from $2.8 million and $4 million in 2017. Capital One, the fifth-largest U.S. credit-card issuer, has been paying Instagram and Twitter users with 100,000 to one million followers to post photos, mostly of restaurant settings, alongside the bank’s Savor rewards credit card, according to Mintel. Discover Financial Services spent over $1 million on consumer-credit-card ads aimed at prospective new borrowers on Facebook in 2018, up from $426,000 a year earlier, according to Mintel and Pathmatics.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is proposing using taxpayer money to wipe out hundreds of billions of dollars in student-loan debt as a way to control rising college costs, the Wall Street Journal reported. The proposal, which the Democratic presidential candidate would pay for by increasing taxes on high-wealth households, steers the bulk of debt relief toward people whom Warren views as least likely to be able to repay their loans. Warren is also proposing eliminating tuition and fees at every U.S. public two- and four-year college by having the federal government negotiate with states to split the costs of tuition and fees. Additionally, she would boost funding for Pell Grants — federal aid for college expenses that doesn’t have to be paid back — by $100 billion over the next 10 years. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

Student loan debt in bankruptcy is one of the many issues addressed in the Final Report of ABI's Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy. To download a copy of the the Consumer Commission’s Final Report of recommendations or to watch a special briefing by Commission unveiling the report, please visit consumercommission.abi.org.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will unveil debt collection rules in a few weeks, the agency’s director said yesterday, potentially unleashing a battle over the industry’s tactics and consumers’ rights, the Washington Post reported. The proposal, which would be the first update to the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act in more than 40 years, will address how often debt collectors can call someone and the industry’s use of emails or text messages, CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger said. The CFPB will “modernize the legal regime for debt collection,” Kraninger said in her first major speech since becoming the bureau’s director in December. The $11 billion industry has been anxiously awaiting the proposal, hopeful the Trump administration would set out clear rules, including allowing debt collectors to email and text consumers. Consumer advocates, meanwhile, have asked the CFPB to stop debt collectors from harassing consumers and collecting on “zombie” debts.

Consumers around the world are likely to spend more cautiously in the coming months amid political and economic uncertainty, according to a new report that surveyed shoppers in 64 countries, the Washington Post reported. Shoppers said that they have cut back on clothing and entertainment costs in the past year, and have taken measures to save on gas and electricity, according to the Conference Board Global Consumer Confidence Survey, conducted in collaboration with Nielsen. Consumers in Europe and Latin America are buying cheaper alcohol and groceries, while Asian shoppers are scaling back their annual vacations. Consumers in more than half of the 64 countries surveyed said they expect economic conditions to worsen in the coming year, the survey found. Uncertainty over international trade negotiations, as well as Brexit and whatever President Trump might do or say next have taken a toll on how much people plan to spend, particularly in North America and Europe, Dahlhoff said. Overall, the Global Consumer Confidence Index slipped one point to 106 in the first quarter of 2019. “Despite the high levels of confidence globally, consumers in different markets have different views about where the economy is heading in 2019,” said Bart van Ark, global chief executive of The Conference Board. “The majority of global consumers do not expect conditions to become more favorable over the next twelve months."

Getting out from under crushing student loan debt might become a little easier if new proposed changes in bankruptcy rules take hold, MarketWatch.com reported. The proposed changes are part of a wide-ranging report by prominent members of the bankruptcy community, including former judges, academics and lawyers from both the debtor and creditor sides. The recommendations from the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy are aimed in part at addressing issues that have made it more challenging for debtors to file bankruptcy. The 274-page report, released Thursday, touched on issues including attorney costs, rainy day funds for debtors with unexpected expenses and the disproportionate number of African-American consumers in a certain type of bankruptcy proceeding. “Debt hanging over the debtor forever has a cost,” Elizabeth Perris, a retired bankruptcy judge who co-chaired the commission report, said Thursday. “It’s a cost in terms of lack of purchase of houses, cars, having children and we just recognize that at a certain point for those people who want to avail themselves of bankruptcy, they ought to be able to get the fresh start and move on with their lives.” Read more. 

To download a copy of the the Consumer Commission’s Final Report of recommendations or to watch a special briefing by Commission unveiling the report, please visit consumercommission.abi.org.

Homeowners who say mortgage servicer Ditech Holding Corp. mishandled their payments and charged illegal fees could be blocked from collecting damages because of the company’s bankruptcy, despite a 2005 law aimed at preventing such an outcome, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Officials at the Justice Department and consumer advocates are warning homeowners that they could miss out on compensation if Ditech reorganizes in chapter 11 without selling its operations. The Fort Washington, Pa.-based company, which collects mortgage-loan payments on about 1.4 million residential loans through Ditech Financial LLC, Green Tree Servicing Corp. and other associated companies, filed for bankruptcy in February. The company, which blamed its financial troubles on rising interest rates and its own heavy debt payments, faces thousands of litigation claims from homeowners who have notified the company, through letters and lawsuits, of mistakes related to their mortgage accounts, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. Some homeowners said Ditech companies failed to properly credit payments, while others said the company has charged improper fees or mistakenly begun to foreclose on their properties. Consumer lawyers said homeowners who accuse servicers of wrongdoing generally seek compensation ranging from a few hundred dollars to more than $1 million.