Edition 4 • April 23, 2026

The Week in Consumer Protection

The TCPA consent-revocation rule hits one year, medical debt on credit reports after the court ruling, the click-to-cancel rule vacated, junk-fee disclosure one year in, and AI voice-cloning scams.

FCC FTC CFPB Federal Courts State AGs

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

This edition is a one-year check on a handful of federal consumer protection rules that quietly reshaped the landscape in 2025, and an update on a few that did not survive court review. If you have ever tried to stop robocalls, dispute medical debt on your credit report, cancel a subscription, or understand why a hotel quote turned into something completely different at checkout, each of the stories below touches your life directly.
FCC • TCPA

The TCPA Consent-Revocation Rule Turns One

On April 11, 2025, one of the most consumer-friendly TCPA rules in years went into effect. The Federal Communications Commission's consent-revocation rule requires callers and texters to honor a consumer's revocation of consent within a reasonable time, not to exceed ten business days, and to do so regardless of the method the consumer used to revoke. In plain English: if you tell a company to stop calling or texting, they have to stop, and they cannot force you to use a specific magic word or a particular webform to make the revocation count.

Words like "stop," "quit," "end," "revoke," "opt out," and "unsubscribe" are all presumed to be valid revocations under the rule. A revocation made through any reasonable method, including a reply text, a voicemail, or a verbal statement during a live call, is effective. Once a consumer revokes, all future marketing calls and texts to that number are presumed to be without consent for purposes of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

One year in, the rule has given consumers and consumer protection attorneys a cleaner factual record in TCPA cases. A continued call or text after a documented revocation is now more clearly a violation, and each call or text carries statutory damages of $500, rising to $1,500 for willful or knowing violations under 47 U.S.C. Section 227(b)(3).

General Information

If you told a company to stop contacting you and they kept calling or texting, the revocation likely counted even if you did not say a specific word or use a specific form. Save the message or record the conversation where the revocation was made. Each continued contact can carry statutory damages, and the fee-shifting provisions mean consumers generally pay nothing out of pocket when the case is handled by a consumer protection attorney.

FCC on stopping unwanted calls →
CFPB • Federal Courts

Medical Debt on Your Credit Report: Where Things Stand

In January 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule that would have prohibited consumer reporting agencies from including most medical debt on consumer credit reports and barred creditors from using medical information in credit decisions. The rule was expected to remove medical collection items from tens of millions of reports and to add meaningful points to affected consumers' credit scores.

In July 2025, a federal district court in Texas vacated the rule, finding that the CFPB had exceeded its statutory authority under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. That ruling left the rule unenforceable. As a result, medical debt can, once again, be reported on credit files by the consumer reporting agencies in accordance with the prior legal framework.

There is still meaningful consumer protection in place. The three nationwide credit bureaus have, since 2022 and 2023, voluntarily removed paid medical collections, kept unpaid medical collections off reports until they are at least one year past due, and excluded medical collections under $500 altogether. Newer credit scoring models, including VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T, weight medical debt less heavily or exclude it. And under the FCRA at 15 U.S.C. Section 1681c(a)(6), genuinely inaccurate or fully paid medical collection items are still disputable like any other inaccuracy.

General Information

If a medical collection is on your credit report, check whether it fits one of the categories the bureaus already exclude voluntarily (paid, under $500, or less than a year past due). If it does, it generally should not be there. If the amount is wrong, the item is paid, or the debt is not actually yours (often an insurance coding or billing dispute), a written dispute under 15 U.S.C. Section 1681i is the path to correction. Medical debt is one of the most frequently mis-reported categories on credit files.

CFPB on medical debt →
FTC • Federal Courts

The "Click-to-Cancel" Rule Was Vacated. What Does That Mean for You?

The Federal Trade Commission's Negative Option Rule, commonly called "click to cancel," was finalized in October 2024. Its core premise was simple: if you can sign up for a subscription online, you should be able to cancel it the same way, without a phone call, retention script, or scavenger hunt through the settings menu. The rule was set to take effect in mid-2025.

In July 2025, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the rule on procedural grounds, finding that the FTC had failed to complete a required regulatory analysis. The rule never became effective. The underlying statutes that the FTC used to justify the rule, including Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA) at 15 U.S.C. Section 8401 and following, remain in force.

The practical effect for consumers: the FTC can still challenge cancellation practices that it considers deceptive or unfair on a case-by-case basis under existing authority, and state law in New York and many other states imposes its own requirements for automatic renewal, including clear and conspicuous disclosure of terms and a simple cancellation mechanism. New York's Automatic Renewal Law at General Business Law Section 527-a requires businesses to provide a cost-effective, timely, and easy-to-use mechanism for cancellation. Many states have similar statutes, and private remedies may be available for violations.

General Information

If a subscription is making itself difficult to cancel, the absence of the federal click-to-cancel rule does not leave you without options. New York GBL 527-a and similar state laws impose cancellation and disclosure requirements with real teeth. Keeping a record of your cancellation attempts (screenshots, call logs, dates) helps regardless of which law ultimately governs. Continued charges after a cancellation attempt may also support claims under the FCBA for credit card disputes or the EFTA for debit card and bank debits.

FTC consumer alerts →
FTC • Junk Fees

Junk-Fee Disclosure on Tickets and Short-Term Lodging: One Year In

The FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, often called the Junk Fees Rule, took effect on May 12, 2025. It applies to live-event tickets and short-term lodging (hotels, short-term rentals, and vacation stays). The rule requires that the total price, including all mandatory fees, be disclosed clearly and conspicuously in any advertisement or offer that includes a price, and that the total price be shown more prominently than any other pricing information in most contexts.

The mandatory-fee category is broad. It covers resort fees, destination fees, cleaning fees, service fees, facility fees, convenience fees, and any other charge that is required to complete the transaction. Taxes and shipping fees remain separately disclosable but must be itemized. Optional add-ons (a parking upgrade, a seat selection fee) can still be layered in after total-price disclosure, but only if they are genuinely optional.

One year in, the effect on hotel and ticket pages has been visible: the all-in price now appears in headline pricing rather than being revealed only at checkout. Violations continue to show up, particularly on resale ticket sites and smaller lodging platforms. A misleading total-price disclosure is itself a deceptive practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act and, in New York, under General Business Law Section 349.

General Information

If you were charged mandatory fees at checkout that were not clearly disclosed in the advertised total price on a ticket or lodging purchase after May 12, 2025, that may violate the Junk Fees Rule and parallel state consumer protection statutes. Save the listing page as it appeared when you booked, the confirmation, and the final charge. Chargebacks under the Fair Credit Billing Act and EFTA disputes are separate tools that may apply where the charged amount materially exceeded what was disclosed.

FTC Junk Fees Rule →
FTC • AI Scams

AI Voice Cloning Is Powering a New Generation of Scams

A voice that sounds exactly like your grandchild, your spouse, or your boss can now be synthesized from a few seconds of audio scraped from social media, voicemail greetings, or podcast clips. The FTC has warned repeatedly, most recently through updated consumer alerts, that AI voice-cloning technology has made the old "grandparent scam" and impersonation scam substantially more convincing and substantially more common.

The pattern is consistent: an urgent call or voicemail in a familiar voice claims an emergency (a car accident, a hospital visit, a legal arrest), the caller cannot talk long, and they need money by wire transfer, gift cards, or a mobile payment app. A second "caller" may impersonate a police officer, a lawyer, or a bail bondsman to add pressure. Victims who realize what happened after the payment is sent often find that wire transfers, gift card codes, and mobile-payment transfers are difficult or impossible to reverse.

The FTC's Government and Business Impersonation Rule at 16 C.F.R. Part 461, finalized in 2024, gives the FTC authority to seek civil penalties and consumer redress against scammers who impersonate government agencies and businesses, including when they do so using AI-generated voices. A separate proposed rule would extend similar protections to impersonation of individuals. For consumers, though, the first line of defense remains procedural: verify the caller through an independent channel, set up a family code word, and resist the pressure to pay immediately.

General Information

If you receive a call with urgent demands for money, especially via wire transfer, gift card, or mobile payment app, hang up and call the person back on a number you already have. Set up a family "code word" for emergencies that a stranger would not know. Report impersonation scams to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the New York Attorney General. If funds were taken from a bank or debit account through an authorized-then-disputed transaction, EFTA protections may still apply to portions of the loss, depending on the facts.

FTC on impostor scams →

Have questions about anything you read here? Wondering if something that happened to you is a violation of federal law? We offer free consultations and there is no cost to you for most consumer protection cases.

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