On September 29, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against an online lender and 38 of its subsidiaries for alleged violations of the Military Lending Act (MLA), 10 U.S.C. § 987, and its implementing regulation, 32…
On September 28, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it ordered an Alabama bank to pay over $190 million to resolve allegations that it charged its customers surprise overdraft fees between August 2018 and July 2021. The CFPB alleges that the bank was charging consumers surprise overdraft fees, known as authorized-positive fees, on…
On June 29, 2022, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office announced that it had resolved allegations that a motor vehicle title lender made illegal loans to customers and repossessed cars to collect payments, with a settlement agreement that requires the lender to pay over $900,000 in redress to consumers. The Attorney General alleged that the motor…
On May 6, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that, at its request, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida had issued a temporary restraining order (TRO), effectively shutting down a credit repair operation. In the FTC’s complaint, it alleged that the company charged consumers hundreds of dollars for credit repair services that…
On March 21, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had obtained an injunction halting a Texas-based credit repair operation. The company allegedly obtained millions of dollars from consumers by falsely claiming to consumers the company could remove negative information from credit reports. The company would then allegedly file fake identify theft reports to remove…
On November 5, 2021, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office (Illinois AG) announced a settlement with three online payday lending lead generators to resolve allegations that the companies violated Illinois state lending laws. The Illinois AG alleged that the lead generators violated state lending laws by generating payday loan leads without a license…
On October 21, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it has issued orders to collect information about the business plans and practices of multiple large technology companies operating payment systems in the United States. Notably, these orders were issued pursuant to the CFPB’s rulemaking authority under Dodd-Frank Section 1022, rather than its…
On September 1, 2021, the Massachusetts Attorney General (“Massachusetts AG”) announced that an auto lending company had agreed to pay more than $27 million to resolve claims that it engaged in unfair and deceptive auto loan practices. The Massachusetts AG alleged that the company made high interest auto loans to borrowers, despite the…
On July 21, 2021, the Mississippi Attorney General announced that it had reached a settlement with a national auto lender to resolve claims that the company placed borrowers into auto loans with a high probability of default. The Attorney General also alleged that the auto lender engaged in aggressive collection practices in violation…
On July 12, 2021 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that a consent order had been reached with an Atlanta-based non-bank lending company that would require the company to cancel up to $9 million in loans for consumers, resolving allegations that the fintech company violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) by originating and servicing unauthorized loans….
On July 14, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) entered into a settlement agreement with a national peer-to-peer personal loan lender to resolve allegations stemming form 2018 lawsuit that the FTC had filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Pursuant to the settlement, the lender agreed to pay $18 million to…
On February 3, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced its first formal enforcement action against an Irvine-based student debt relief company. The DFPI’s action alleges that the company’s student debt relief practices violated the California Consumer Financial Protection Law and Student Loan Servicing Act. According to the DFPI, for over three…
On January 29, 2021, the FTC announced that it filed a proposed settlement in the District of Nevada with two Nevada-based consulting companies, resolving claims that the companies violated the FTC Act, Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, Telemarketing Sales Rule, Credit Repair Organizations Act, and Consumer Review Fairness Act. The FTC alleged that, since…
On December 4, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed suit against an online lender that offers single-payment and installment loans to consumers for alleged violations of the Military Lending Act (MLA). The MLA contains protections associated with extensions of consumer credit for active-duty servicemembers, including a maximum allowable annual…
On November 30, 2020 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had reached a settlement with a debt collection company for its “debt parking scheme” (also known as “passive debt collection”) in which the company allegedly placed bogus or questionable debts on consumers’ credit reports in an attempt to coerce them to pay the…
On November 30, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) granted a no-action letter to an online loan marketplace company for its artificial intelligence (AI) loan origination and underwriting platform. The company offers an AI-based underwriting model for banks, credit unions, and non-bank lenders to use in originating loans. Consumers provide information to start a loan…
On December 1, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed suit against a Massachusetts debt settlement and relief company over alleged violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) in connection with the company’s debt-settlement and debt relief services. The complaint filed in the U.S. District…
On October 26, 2020, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii announced that a federal judge sentenced the owner of a fraudulent mortgage relief scheme to 240 months’ imprisonment, after the jury convicted the owner of 32 counts of wire fraud and mail fraud. The owner created two companies, neither of which…