Goodwin released its Consumer Finance 2016 Year In Review. In the Year In Review, Goodwin synthesizes prior coverage from the LenderLaw Watch and Consumer Finance Watch blogs, covering the most significant developments from 2016 and offering some predictions on what the industry might expect in 2017 in the mortgage, credit card, student…
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 24, 2017, 38 members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) sent a letter to President Trump urging him to cease any planned efforts to remove Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray. The letter was co-authored by the ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services…
On January 24, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced a $65 million fine assessed against a default management services company. The company’s predecessor had consented to a cease and desist order in 2011, stemming from allegations that it…
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 3, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) entered into consent orders with credit reporting agencies Equifax and TransUnion, requiring that they pay a total of over $17.6 million in restitution to consumers and pay an additional total money penalty of $5.5 million. The consent orders concern the CFPB’s…
On January 24, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Florida Attorney General’s Office announced a settlement with student loan debt relief providers alleged to have participated in a student loan debt relief scheme, resolving allegations that the providers violated the Federal Trade Commission Act, Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act,…
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 23, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a mortgage servicer, resolving alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s (CFPA) prohibition on deceptive acts or practices….
On January 23, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a mortgage servicer, resolving allegations that the servicer violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The CFPB alleged that, during 2014, the servicer informed borrowers seeking loss mitigation…
On January 20, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO) announced that it had settled a recently-filed lawsuit against a national bank, resolving allegations of mortgage discrimination. As previously covered by Enforcement Watch, the government alleged that from 2006 to 2009, the bank charged minority borrowers higher rates…
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…
Last week, the Central District of California granted summary judgment in a TCPA case involving a single prerecorded call from the plaintiff’s medical insurance company. In Smith v. Blue Shield of California, the plaintiff alleged that her medical insurance provider violated the TCPA by placing a prerecorded call to her…
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 3, 2017, the Central District of California issued an order in CFPB v. CashCall, Inc., No. 2:15-cv-07522 (C.D. Cal.) allowing the defendants to request an interlocutory appeal of its August 31, 2016, decision granting partial summary judgment in favor of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The court’s decision…
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 12, 2017, the Florida Attorney General’s Office (Florida AG) announced that it and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (Florida OFR) had entered into coordinated settlements with an online payday lender and its affiliated entities. The payday lender was accused of charging interest rates prohibited by Florida law. This…
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,…