On July 30, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it will mail checks totaling over $969,000 to consumers who lost money as part of a credit card interest rate reduction scam. In June 2013, the FTC brought suit in the Middle District of Florida against a payment processor and telemarketing company,…
On July 30, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a national mortgage servicing company, resolving claims that the servicer engaged in unfair and deceptive practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act. The CFPB alleged that the servicer failed to honor modifications…
On July 29, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that co-conspirators in a mortgage modification scam pled guilty to conspiracy and fraud. The defendants, through a mortgage modification company, collected fees from residential mortgage holders and promised consumers that the company would either secure them a mortgage modification…
On July 28, the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) announced that it entered into consent orders with a mortgage payment processing company and servicer related to allegedly deceptive advertisements. The consent orders allege that the payment processer partnered with servicers to market and an provide electronic payment system that directly debited…
On July 28, the North Carolina Attorney General announced that it obtained a default judgment against a mortgage broker and its president in North Carolina Superior Court. The Attorney General brought claims against the defendants under the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75-1.1. The Attorney General alleged that the…
On June 25, 2015, the CFPB published nearly 8,000 consumer complaint narratives on its website for the first time. The CFPB complaint database has been “live” since June 2012. However, the database initially included only basic, anonymized data about the nature of the complaint; including subject matter and a general…
On July 23, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) filed a complaint and proposed consent order in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California in connection with a settlement reached with a student loan lender that offered fee-based assistance to consumers filling out the federal government’s Free Application…
On July 22, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a consent order against a national bank and its affiliates for its servicing practices affecting private student loan borrowers. The order asserts that the bank violated various sections of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (“CFPA”) and the Fair…
Goodwin Procter partner and chair of the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation Practice, Thomas Hefferon, will serve as the conference co-chair and speak on a panel titled “Consumer Finance Class Action Litigation and Settlement Trends and New and Emerging Procedural Considerations: Certification and Other Procedural Developments, Offers of Judgment/Full Relief,…
On July 21, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a consent order requiring a national bank and its subsidiaries to provide roughly $700 million in consumer relief due to the bank’s practices relating to its credit card services and add-on products. The consent order states that a CFPB review of the bank’s practices…
On July 17, 2015, the Attorney General for the State of Colorado (“Colorado AG”) filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court alleging that a retailer and its related companies repeatedly violated Colorado’s consumer lending laws concerning credit extended to military servicemembers. The action is the second lawsuit filed by the Colorado AG in the…
On July 9, 2015, the CFPB published a set of Consumer Protection Principles it believes should guide the financial industry in the development of newer, faster methods of payment. These Principles, though merely suggestions, may help members of the financial industry anticipate the expectations of their regulators and develop new…
On July 10, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its TCPA Omnibus Declaratory Ruling and Order. We wrote about this order on June 29, previewing the FCC’s focus on consumers’ ability to opt out of certain calls, its reiteration of its definition of what constitutes an autodialer, and its…
On July 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that claims concerning an indirect auto finance company’s alleged discriminatory lending practices were settled as part of a consent order requiring $24 million in restitution payments to borrowers and changes to the lender’s dealer compensation system. The consent order alleges…
On July 13, 2015, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane announced a settlement with two Philadelphia-based mortgage loan modification companies following an investigation by the states’ Bureau of Consumer Protection. According to the Attorney General’s announcement, the Bureau initiated the investigation as a result of consumer complaints filed against the companies for,…
On July 14, 2015, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida announced that the owner of a Miami-area mortgage company, his business partner, and a senior mortgage underwriter each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution. As part of the owner’s plea, he will forfeit $8…
On June 18, the Federal Housing Administration provided lenders with a new Defect Taxonomy for Single Family Housing Loans, or Loan Quality Assessment Methodology. It has been working on the new taxonomy for almost a year, and the final product is very similar to what it presented for comment in September…
On July 10, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had entered into a consent order permanently banning a state debt relief services provider from advertising or providing debt relief services. The complaint, filed on January 26, alleged that the provider violated the Federal Trade Commission Act and Telemarketing and Consumer…
On July 10, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had entered a consent order with affiliated auto dealerships that allegedly misrepresented to consumers that auto payment programs or add-on products would save them money. The consent order prohibits the dealerships from representing that any payment program or add-on product or…
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent action against two credit card vendors regarding credit monitoring and identity theft protection services is a reminder of the legal risks associated with certain add-on products. The July 1 settlement, in which the CFPB found that the vendors misled customers about the benefits of…