On March 28, 2018, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) announced settlements with a bank and an affiliated lender (“Defendants”) relating to allegations of deceptive lending practices. According to the FDIC, the Defendants provided, as “debt-settlement products,” loans to borrowers who were heavily indebted, which loans had settlement fees of up…
On February 7, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced an enforcement action against a student loan debt relief operation, claiming it deceived consumers out of $28 million by falsely promising that their monthly payments would go towards their student loans. In the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern…
On May 25, 2017, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (“Massachusetts AG”) announced a final judgment and permanent injunction entered in Suffolk Superior Court against an unlicensed online auto title lender, permanently banning the company from operating in Massachusetts and voiding over 200 loans made by the company to Massachusetts borrowers. The judgment also prohibits…
On September 27, 2016, the Kentucky Attorney General announced that on September 15, 2016, a Franklin Circuit Judge ordered a Florida-based student loan company to cease all operations in Kentucky. The Attorney General’s lawsuit was filed after the Attorney General launched an investigation “into the company’s potentially misleading college loan forgiveness claims aimed…
On June 30, 2016, the Iowa Attorney General announced a settlement with a for-profit cosmetology college to resolve alleged violations of the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. The settlement, which took the form of a consent judgment, settled claims that the college engaged in “deceptive, omissive, and unfair practices in marketing,…
On June 21, 2016, the North Carolina Attorney General announced that two online fast cash lenders have agreed to pay more than $9 million in refunds for allegedly illegal loans issued to North Carolina consumers. The settlement stems from a December 2013 complaint alleging that the lenders violated North Carolina usury…
On May 4, 2016, the Kentucky Attorney General announced that it filed a lawsuit against an out-of-state student loan company on May 2, 2016 for failing to turn over key documents in response to a subpoena in an ongoing investigation. The lawsuit alleges that, under the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act, Kentucky…
On April 1, 2016, the California Attorney General announced that it filed suit against a prominent investment bank for alleged “misrepresentations about complex investments such as residential mortgage-backed securities, in which large pools of home loans were packaged together and sold to investors.” The eight-count complaint, which was filed in…
On September 28, 2015, the CFPB announced that it had entered into a consent order and settlement with a national bank for alleged violations of the Dodd-Frank Act’s UDAAP provision for deceptive acts or practices in the marketing and sales of its “Debt Protection” credit card add-on product. The debt…
On July 8, 2015, New York Attorney General Eric T. Scheiderman announced that a court order was obtained that permanently bars a consumer debt collection agency from operating as a debt collector and further requires payment of $550,000 in consumer restitution, civil penalties, and costs. The order was signed following a…