On October 12, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed suit against two debt-relief companies and their owners, and a third company that processed payments for and provided other services in connection the debt-relief providers. The complaint alleges violations under the Consumer Financial Protection Act of…
On October 5, 2017, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced that it had filed suit against a federal student loan provider and servicer (and its subsidiary) in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, alleging violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) and Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer…
As Enforcement Watch reported in late September, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced that it had filed a proposed consent judgment in the United States District Court for Delaware to resolve claims relating to the servicing and debt collection activities on a portfolio of about 800,000 student loans. Under the proposed settlement agreement, the student loan trusts…
On September 27, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had entered into a $760,000 settlement with two affiliated auto finance companies stemming from allegations that the companies violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”), 50 U.S.C. § 3901, et seq., by failing to obtain court orders prior to repossessing vehicles owned…
On September 18, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced that it had entered into a settlement and proposed consent judgment with a student loan owner and securitizer, and a separate consent judgment with the securitizer’s debt collector. The securitizer has a loan portfolio of approximately 800,000 student loans. According…
On September 8, a federal judge in California ordered a national mortgage services company to pay a $7.9 million civil penalty based on false or misleading marketing statements it allegedly made to consumers about its mortgage loan repayment services. The court, however, denied the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (“CFPB”) request for $74 million in restitution, finding that the…
On September 6, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a lead aggregator over claims the aggregator steered consumers towards lenders who offered installment or payday loans that were illegal in consumers’ states. The consent order claimed that the aggregator sold loan applications to lenders…
On August 30, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a stipulated proposed final judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in a case against a California-based credit repair company. The lawsuit, which was initially filed in September 2016, alleges that the credit repair…
On August 23, 2017, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced that her office had sued one of the nation’s largest federal student loan servicers, alleging that the servicer deprived public servants of relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), a federal student loan forgiveness program that forgives loans of borrowers that hold public service positions…
On August 17, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced that it filed a complaint and proposed settlement against an Oregon private equity firm and related entities for aiding a post-secondary education company and its school’s predatory lending scheme. The CFPB alleges that the private equity firm enabled the school…