On July 30, 2020, the Massachusetts Attorney General (Massachusetts AG) announced a settlement with a Nevada-based debt buyer regarding a portfolio of loan debt it purchased from a for-profit education company. The settlement resolves the Massachusetts AG’s allegations that, between 2010 and 2016, the for-profit education company misled students by…
On July 24, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered consent orders (here and here) against two California-based mortgage lenders, resolving allegations that the lenders violated the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1601–1667f, and its implementing regulation, Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. § 1026.24;…
On July 17, 2020, a federal judge in Guam refused to vacate her ruling in U.S. v. Government of Guam, et al., Case No. 1:17-00113, which held that sovereign immunity prevented the U.S. government from seeking damages under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) for Guam’s alleged violations of housing rights…
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued Final Rules last month in an effort to address the “legal confusion” regarding the impact of the permissible interest when a bank transfers a loan to a third party. These Final Rules are…
On July 20, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that the United States District Court for the Central District of California had entered its stipulated final judgment with a foreclosure relief services company and its owner, resolving allegations that the defendants had engaged in deceptive and abusive acts…
On July 15, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it had filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against a Chicago-based nonbank mortgage creditor for violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1691(a) (ECOA), its implementing regulation Regulation…
During a House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) oversight hearing on June 30, 2020, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hinted that clarification may be coming on whether agents helping small businesses apply for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans are entitled to automatic fee reimbursements from PPP lenders. This clarification comes on the…
On July 13, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it had filed suit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against a Texas student loan debt-relief business and a marketing and customer service company for engaging in a nationwide student-loan debt-relief operation that allegedly…
On July 8, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it reached a settlement with a Florida-based student debt relief company and three of the company’s officers. The complaint, which was filed in the Southern District of Florida, alleges that from 2016 through October 2019, the company violated the…
On July 6, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed a lawsuit against a Delaware financial services company and the company’s founder in the Southern District of New York. The complaint alleges that the company engaged in deceptive acts and practices under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA),…
On July 2, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it reached a settlement with a Maryland used car dealership. The consent order resolves a lawsuit filed by the DOJ in September 2019, which alleged that the dealership discriminated against African American consumers by offering different loan terms based on race,…