On May 26, 2017, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt (Kansas AG) announced that a New York-based debt collector and its owner were banned from debt collection and enforcement in Kansas. Shawnee County District Court Judge Teresa Watson approved the consent judgment ordering the company to stop doing business in Kansas, dismissing…
On May 25, 2017, Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear (“Kentucky AG”) announced steps it is taking to provide guidance to Kentucky homeowners whose banks use online mortgage recording databases instead of traditional public land records to track land ownership. The Kentucky AG has provided county clerks with information to post in…
On May 25, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it filed a complaint in federal court in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida against a student loan debt relief and credit repair company, its affiliated companies, and owner. The complaint alleged that the defendants operated an…
On May 25, 2017, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (“Massachusetts AG”) announced a final judgment and permanent injunction entered in Suffolk Superior Court against an unlicensed online auto title lender, permanently banning the company from operating in Massachusetts and voiding over 200 loans made by the company to Massachusetts borrowers. The judgment also prohibits…
On May 4, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee passed the Financial CHOICE Act, H.R. 10, with a 34-to-26 vote down party lines. The legislation, co-sponsored by Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), seeks to overhaul the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, including restructuring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). LenderLaw…
On May 23, 2017, the Florida Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced that it had filed a complaint against a Florida student loan debt relief company that falsely promised consumers it could substantially reduce their student loan debt, or even have their student loan debt forgiven. According to the complaint, the company convinced consumers to pay…
On May 23, 2017, the District of Columbia Attorney General’s Office announced that it had entered into a consent order with a Maryland debt relief company and its owner for violating the District of Columbia’s Consumer Credit Service Organizations Act, D.C. Code § 28-4601, et seq., by falsely promising to help consumers reduce or eliminate debt. The debt relief…
On May 15, 2017, petitioners in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Bobbi-Jo Smiley filed a reply brief with the U.S. Supreme Court defending their petition for certiorari and arguing that the Court should take up review of the Third Circuit’s revival of their employees’ claims for overtime…
On May 16, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had reached a settlement with a company engaged in reverse mortgage servicing, in connection with the company’s participation in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (“HUD”) Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (“HECM”) program, which offers senior citizens reverse mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration…
On May 15, 2017, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office (“Minnesota AG”) announced that it obtained a judgment in a lawsuit filed in Minnesota state court against a debt collection company. As a result of the final judgment, the company is permanently barred from collecting debts in Minnesota and must pay a…
On May 11, 2017, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced a settlement with a Wisconsin bank and two affiliated institutions, resolving allegations that the three lenders violated Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive practices. The lenders allegedly violated this provision by: (1) charging…
On May 9, 2017, the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia AG) announced that it had entered into a proposed consent order to resolve an action filed in Spotsylvania County Circuit Court against a Virginia-based pawn broker that allegedly charged illegal interest rates on loans. The proposed consent order would require the pawnbroker…
On May 10, 2017, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the Middle District of North Carolina’s refusal to compel arbitration under the terms of a payday loan agreement. In Dillon v. BMO Harris Bank, N.A., BMO Harris attempted to compel arbitration pursuant to an agreement that would have required the arbitrator to…
On May 11, 2017, the Massachusetts Division of Banks (DOB) entered into a consent order with a Massachusetts residential mortgage lending company, alleging that, between January 2013 and December 2016, the company engaged in unlicensed residential mortgage lending and charged fees in violation of Massachusetts law, and failed to comply with the Real…
On May 10, 2017, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a settlement with a California credit union concerning allegations that the credit union denied loan approval to a married couple because one spouse was on maternity leave, in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA). HUD alleged that the couple applied for a…
On May 8, 2017, the North Carolina Attorney General (“NC AG”) announced that it had obtained a final judgment against an auto title lender and two of its employees in North Carolina State Court. The NC AG alleged that the lender solicited loans online, and required consumers to secure the loans with their vehicle titles. If…
On April 26, 2017, the CFPB issued a press release and its latest Supervisory Highlights, which spotlight the CFPB’s recent enforcement efforts in the areas of mortgage loan origination, mortgage loan servicing, and student loan servicing. The Supervisory Highlights reflect what the CFPB sees as common problems in each area,…
On April 27, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced the filing of a suit against four online lenders alleging that the lenders illegally collected debts on invalid loans. The complaint alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a), 5536(a), and 5564(a), and the Truth in Lending Act (TILA),…
On April 26, 2017, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it reached a consent order with an Ohio-based auto lender that allegedly violated a prior CFPB consent order by failing to properly return $1 million in refunds and credits to its customers. According to the CFPB, the auto lender specializes in auto loans to servicemembers. Under…
On April 21, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the lower court’s decision denying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) petition to investigate a college accreditation organization. The Court limited its holding to the particular Civil Investigative Demand (CID), finding that the Notification of Purpose within…