On August 28, the CFPB announced it reached a proposed settlement agreement with a credit repair conglomerate for $2.7 billion. The parties await approval of the proposed settlement by the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. In its amended complaint filed last August, the CFPB alleged that the defendant companies collected advance…
On August 17, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had taken action against a residential mortgage loan originator that provided illegal incentives to real estate brokers and agents in exchange for mortgage loan referrals. The CFPB also penalized a real estate brokerage firm that accepted kickbacks…
On August 21, the FTC announced that the U.S. District Court of Central California issued a temporary restraining order against two companies accused of targeting students seeking debt relief and collecting $8.8 million in illegal advanced fees in exchange for student loan debt relief services that did not exist. In its complaint,…
On August 17, 2023, the CFPB announced that it had taken enforcement action against a Florida-based mortgage lending and servicing corporation, as well as a New York-based real estate brokerage firm, issuing consent orders against the businesses for “exchanging things of value return for mortgage loan referrals”, in violation of Section 8(a)…
On July 26, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a new Supervisory Highlights report (Report) that sheds light on the CFPB’s observations and findings of unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices in auto loan servicing, among other consumer financial products. The Report – which covers CFPB supervisory examinations from…
On August 2, 2023, the CFPB announced that it had filed a complaint against a Georgia-based auto-loan servicer alleging “unfair acts and practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a), 5536(a)(1).” The complaint, filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia,…
On July 17, 2023, Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice and Consumer Protection of the European Commission and Rohit Chopra, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced the start of an “informal dialogue” between their two agencies. Reynders and Chopra indicated that the dialogue would cover a variety of important…
On July 26, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a Supervisory Highlights report covering findings from its examinations completed between July 2022 and March 2023 (the Report), which found, among other violations, several instances of unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices related to auto lending, and illegal…
On July 19, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) sued Snap Finance LLC, Snap R TO LLC, Snap Second Look LLC, Snap U.S. Holdings LLC, and Snap Finance Holdings LLC (collectively, the Snap Defendants or Snap). The complaint alleged that the Snap Defendants violated the: Consumer Financial Protection Act…
On July 13, 2023, the CFPB and various state attorneys general, along with California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, filed an adversary proceeding against a sales training company for deceptive marketing and debt collection practices relating to the company’s allegedly illegal student loan program. The eight-count complaint, filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court…
On June 14, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed its opening brief in its appeal of a U.S. district court’s decision in the CFPB’s enforcement action against Townstone Mortgage (Townstone). The CFPB’s brief argues that the Seventh Circuit should reverse the district court’s holding that the Equal Credit…
On July 7, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DOH), and U.S. Department of Treasury (DOT) initiated a public inquiry into certain financial products, such as medical credit cards and installment loans that the CFPB characterized as “high-cos specialty products.” The CFPB,…
On July 13, 2023, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed an enforcement action against a for-profit educational provider alleging the educational provider engaged in deceptive marketing and lending practices. The suit was filed in Delaware Bankruptcy Court in partnership with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation,…
In the six months since New York’s governor signed the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act, L. 2022, ch. 821 (eff. Dec. 30, 2022) (FAPA), a split has emerged about whether the law applies retroactively. FAPA strictly cabins the time limits for commencing mortgage foreclosures by amending five New York procedural rules…
On July 6, 2023, the FTC announced that it had entered into a consent order with a Florida-based vehicle extended warranty provider and its principal under which both agreed to cease all operations and any further involvement with extended automobile warranty sales as a result of what the FTC alleged were deceptive marketing…
On July 5, the Mississippi Attorney General (AG) announced that it filed an action against two companies for allegedly violating the Mississippi Telephone Solicitation Act (MTSA). The AG alleges these companies made nearly 1,000 unauthorized calls to Mississippi residents on the “Do Not Call Registry.” The MTSA took effect four…
On July 1, 2023, the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Office of Consumer Protection (Division) entered into a consent order with a national mortgage servicer. According to the Division’s press release, the company, which was formerly licensed in New Jersey before relocating to Florida, had violated the state’s consumer protection laws in…
On June 21, 2023, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) (collectively, the “Agencies”) published a proposed…
On June 27, 2023, the CFPB announced that it had entered into a consent order with a company that offers payment processing services across a wide range of industries including utilities, student loan servicing, healthcare, education, insurance, telecommunications, and mortgage servicing. The order resolves allegations that the company improperly initiated approximately $2.3 billion in unlawful mortgage payment…
On June 12, 2023, an Eleventh Circuit panel issued an opinion affirming a sanctions order against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) premised on the CFPB’s “derail[ment]” of multiple depositions in contravention of the district court’s instructions. See Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Brown, Case 21-14468 (11th Cir. June 12,…