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 June 18, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced the launch of its pilot advisory opinion (AO) program. The CFPB quickly followed this announcement by publishing a procedural rule implementing the pilot AO program, as well as a proposed procedural rule that would establish a permanent AO program…
On June 23, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it reached a settlement with three companies that issued contracts for deeds with consumers. According to the CFPB, between 2010 and 2016, these companies allegedly had a business plan of acquiring foreclosed properties in bulk and reselling them to consumers through seller financing…
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently issued a joint statement concerning mortgage loan forbearances under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The joint statement signals the types of conduct that may become the focus of CFPB and…
In response to the ongoing impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the financial industry, on June 3, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a statement (CFPB Statement) announcing that it would provide temporary flexibility for credit card issuers in connection with certain written disclosure requirements. Under Regulation…
On June 2, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had reached a settlement with multiple related companies based in Tennessee that offer payday and auto-title loans. The CFPB alleged that the companies made deceptive disclosures, failed to refund overpayments on its loans, and engaged in unfair…
On May 22, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (Mass AG) announced that they had filed a complaint against a credit repair company and the owner of the company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, alleging that they had engaged in deceptive…
On May 14, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a proposed stipulated judgment and final order with a California-based mortgage lender and several affiliated individuals and companies (collectively, the “lender”) resolving allegations that the lender had obtained consumer credit reports for an improper…
On May 11, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) settled with a Colorado-based mortgage servicer that serviced a portfolio of mortgage loans worth approximately $112.69 billion. According to the CFPB, the Bureau found that the servicer violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), 12 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., and its implementing…
On May 1, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) held a joint virtual meeting of its four advisory committees: the Consumer Advisory Board, the Community Bank Advisory Council, the Credit Union Advisory Council, and the Academic Research Council. The meeting—the Bureau’s first public event since the onset…
On April 16, the Michigan Attorney General (AG) announced that an online tribal lender agreed to an assurance of voluntary compliance, resolving allegations that the lender violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). Specifically, the state filed suit seeking an injunction prohibiting the lender from offering or providing usurious loans in the…
On April 1, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with an installment-loan lender, resolving allegations that the lender violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a), 5536(a)(1)(B), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq….
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued a policy statement for credit reporting companies and furnishers concerning credit reporting guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This announcement comes in the wake of the interagency statement encouraging financial institutions to work constructively with borrowers and other customers affected by…
On March 9, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a lawsuit against a national bank in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging that the bank opened unauthorized accounts and enrolled customers in unauthorized products and services without consumers’ knowledge or consent. According to the CFPB’s complaint, the…
On February 14, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its Winter 2020 Supervisory Highlights (Report). It summarizes the CFPB’s findings on violations in the areas of debt collection, mortgage servicing, payday lending, and student loan servicing completed between April 2019 and August 2019. The CFPB notes that it…
On March 3, the Supreme Court heard argument in Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a case involving two questions about the structure of the CFPB: (1) whether the provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that limits removal of the CFPB Director to…
On January 24, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a policy statement setting forth guidelines on how it intends to enforce the “abusiveness” standard under the Dodd-Frank Act. Section 103(a) of the Dodd-Frank Act authorizes the CFPB to bring enforcement actions against “covered persons” engaged in unfair, deceptive,…
On January 30, 2020, the CFPB filed a complaint against a national bank in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. The complaint alleges that the bank violated the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq., TILA’s implementing Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. pt. 1026, and the Consumer…
On January 9, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a complaint against a constellation of companies for allegedly requesting credit reports without a permissible purpose in order to deceptively market sham student-loan debt relief services to consumers, in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act…