On February 7, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Inspector General for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced a settlement agreement and consent order with a residential mortgage lender and…
A recent decision by the Ninth Circuit has created a circuit split regarding the interpretation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). In Vien-Phung Ho v. ReconTrust Co. et al., case no. 10-56884, the court held that the trustee of a California deed of trust is not a “debt collector” under the…
On January 23, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a mortgage servicer, resolving alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s (CFPA) prohibition on deceptive acts or practices….
On January 23, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a mortgage servicer, resolving allegations that the servicer violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The CFPB alleged that, during 2014, the servicer informed borrowers seeking loss mitigation…
On January 18, 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO) filed a lawsuit against a national bank, alleging that the bank had engaged in a years-long practice of racial discrimination in providing mortgage services. The parties reportedly have agreed to terms of a settlement to resolve the action. The…
On January 13, 2017, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against a Minnesota bank, stemming from allegations that the bank engaged in illegal “redlining” of minority neighborhoods in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The DOJ alleged in its complaint that the bank violated the Fair…
On December 28, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $48 million settlement with a national mortgage lender, resolving allegations that the lender violated the False Claims Act by underwriting and endorsing Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans that failed to comply with FHA underwriting guidelines. The settlement was the result of an…
On December 28, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it filed a complaint against, and entered a consent order with, two Ohio-based banks, resolving allegations that the banks had violated the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act by engaging in discriminatory lending. The DOJ alleged that, from at…
On December 7, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into consent orders with three different reverse mortgage companies concerning alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) and Regulation N’s prohibitions on making material misrepresentations as to any “mortgage credit product.” The first consent order…
On December 1, 2016, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the New York Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the unsealing of indictments against five individuals for allegedly participating in a debt-elimination…
On November 30, 2016, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas announced that a federal jury in the Southern District of Texas issued a verdict finding several related mortgage companies and their CEO liable in connection with their participation in the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance program. The verdicts were the result of…
In the third quarter of 2016, Consumer Enforcement Watch tracked 37 enforcement actions taken against consumer financial service providers. This represents a decrease from the 46 enforcement actions that were tracked last quarter and the 50 actions that we tracked in Q1. 25 of the Q3 enforcement actions were settlements…
On November 8, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortg. Corp., a case that will decide an important jurisdictional issue for Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA). See 769 F.3d 681 (9th Cir. 2014), cert. granted, 136 S. Ct. 2536 (2016). The question before the Court…
On November 9, 2016, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced it entered into a consent order with a New Jersey-based mortgage company and its subsidiary. The order stems from multiple investigations concerning loans originated between 2008 and early 2014. The NYDFS alleges that the company had inadequate…
On November 4, 2016, the Ohio Attorney General’s office (AG) announced it filed a complaint against a California-based mortgage-relief services provider and its director (Defendants) alleging violations of Ohio’s consumer protection laws. The complaint alleges that the provider sent advertisements to Ohio residents stating that the company has helped consumers to “receive payment…
On October 19, 2016 the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) announced that it had settled with a Massachusetts-based mortgage lender and its CEO for $1,025,000 to resolve allegations that the mortgage lender submitted false insurance claims on mortgages insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The USAO…
On October 3, 2016, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that two Utah-based Direct Endorsement (DE) lenders agreed to pay $5 million and $4.25 million dollars to settle separate cases relating to their origination and underwriting of mortgage loans insured by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s…
On September 29, the Office of Inspector General for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD OIG) announced the termination of an investigation of a national mortgage lender relating to a purported mortgage fraud scheme. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey assisted in…
On September 29, 2016, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and its Office of Inspector General (HUD OIG) announced a settlement with a mortgage lender relating to two audits of the lender’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured loans. The audits allegedly determined that the lender underwrote FHA-insured loans with…
On September 28, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office announced that it had entered into a settlement with a national mortgage servicer to resolve allegations that the servicer had engaged in abusive debt collection practices affecting over 5,000 Massachusetts consumers. The assurance of discontinuance, filed in Suffolk County Superior Court, alleged…