On February 7, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Inspector General for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced a settlement agreement and consent order with a residential mortgage lender and…
On February 7, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the New York Attorney General (NY AG) jointly announced they filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against a settlement advance company and its founder. The Complaint alleges that the company violated section 1054 of…
On February 2, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia AG) announced the filing of a complaint and a stipulated consent order in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against a Virginia-based pawn broker for allegedly deceiving consumers…
On February 1, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a settlement with a credit card service provider and a credit card provider over a disruption of service for prepaid credit card consumers. According to the CFPB, the credit card provider marketed its prepaid credit card to consumers nationally as a way to get…
On January 31, 2017, the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia (VA AG) announced that it entered into a settlement with a small dollar loan lender. The lender allegedly engaged into a “rent-a-tribe” scheme through a South Dakota company that held itself out as a Native American business entity. The company purportedly used this “facade” to deceive consumers…
Goodwin, a leading Global 50 law firm, announced today the release of the 2016 Consumer Finance Year in Review, a detailed report that highlights the major litigation, enforcement and regulations that impacted the consumer finance industry in 2016. The second annual report, produced by the firm’s Financial Industry and Consumer…
On January 30, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against several debt relief law firms and individual attorneys based in Orange County, California and Kansas City, Kansas. The CFPB brought the action under the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse…
On January 26, 2017, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) announced that it reached settlements with two insurance companies, available here and here, resolving allegations that the companies’ practice of refusing to provide home insurance on properties used for subsidized or low income housing had a discriminatory effect on…
On January 20, 2017, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a trial court ruling that ordered three tribal lending entities to comply with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) civil investigative demands. The CFPB’s investigation concerns whether small-dollar online lenders or similar persons had engaged in illegal advertising, marketing, or collection practices in…
On January 18, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania against a servicer of private and federal student loans, alleging that the servicer used deceptive practices related to borrower repayment. The student loan servicer is…
On January 18, 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO) filed a lawsuit against a national bank, alleging that the bank had engaged in a years-long practice of racial discrimination in providing mortgage services. The parties reportedly have agreed to terms of a settlement to resolve the action. The…
On January 19, 2017, the CFPB announced it filed a suit against a Minnesota bank, alleging the bank deceived consumers into purchasing overdraft services. The CFPB alleged that the bank, which operates throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, Arizona, and South Dakota, made it seem mandatory to purchase overdraft protection…
On January 13, 2017, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against a Minnesota bank, stemming from allegations that the bank engaged in illegal “redlining” of minority neighborhoods in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The DOJ alleged in its complaint that the bank violated the Fair…
On January 18, 2017, the Attorney General (AG) of Washington announced that it filed a lawsuit against the nation’s largest student loan servicer and related entities alleging deceptive lending, servicing, and debt collection practices. According the AG’s Complaint, filed in King County, Washington Superior Court, the servicer engaged in a…
On January 3, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California certified for appellate review its August 31, 2016 Order finding that a California-based payday lending company used a “rent-a-tribe” scheme to avoid state usury laws, in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). Enforcement Watch covered the August 31,…
On January 3, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into two consent orders, available here and here, with two national credit reporting agencies over allegations that the agencies violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act by misrepresenting how lenders use certain credit scores that the agencies…
On December 20, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a mid-Atlantic financing company over allegations that the company entered into revolving-credit agreements with consumers without providing adequate disclosures. The consent order alleged that the company violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act…
On December 19, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed actions against four separate Virginia-based pawnbrokers for alleged violations of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The nearly identical Complaints allege that the pawnbrokers misled consumers by enticing them…
On December 7, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into consent orders with three different reverse mortgage companies concerning alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) and Regulation N’s prohibitions on making material misrepresentations as to any “mortgage credit product.” The first consent order…
On November 22, 2016, the Massachusetts Division of Banks (“DOB) announced that it has returned approximately $2.3 Million to 1,673 Massachusetts residents, as part of a settlement with an online payday lender. The payday lender allegedly issued payday loans with interest rates between 89 and 135 percent, and annual percentage rates (APR) between…