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…
On August 4, 2017, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania denied a student loan servicer’s motion to dismiss claims brought against it by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), rejecting the servicer’s argument that the claims fail because the CFPB is unconstitutional. In January 2017, the…
On August 10, 2017, the Massachusetts Division of Banks (DOB) announced that it had reached, together with the financial regulators of Connecticut, Idaho, Minnesota, and North Dakota, a settlement with two companies, resolving allegations that their debt collection practices failed to comply with state and federal consumer protection laws, including the Fair Debt…
On August 2, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a national bank, resolving allegations as to the bank’s allegedly unlawful credit reporting activities. According to the CFPB, the bank violated several federal laws with respect to its reporting practices, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15…