On June 8, 2020 the Washington Attorney General’s office (Washington AG) announced that a consent order had been reached with a Colorado-based debt collection agency that would require the agency to pay $475,000 to approximately 5,000 Washington consumers to resolve a lawsuit originally filed in April 2020 in Washington state…
On May 17, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with several student loan debt relief companies and their respective owners. The settlement stems from a complaint filed in 2019, in which the FTC alleged the companies charged illegal upfront fees and led consumers to believe the fees were going towards consumers’ student loans in violation of Sections…
On May 17, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it has entered into a stipulated judgment and order to resolve a civil action that it previously filed against a debt settlement company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on December 1, 2020, as previously reported here. The CFPB initially filed suit against the debt settlement company…
On April 27, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a reverse mortgage broker and lender, resolving allegations that the company violated the Mortgages Acts and Practices Advertising Rule (MAP Rule), Regulation Z, and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA)…
On April 26, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with an online coding school, resolving allegations that the school engaged in deceptive acts and practices in violation of California’s new Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL). The school offers its…
On April 14, 2021, the Indiana Attorney General (Indiana AG) announced that his office obtained a default judgment against an Illinois-based debt collection agency and the agency’s owner. The original complaint filed by the Indiana AG alleged the agency violated Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act by improperly threatening borrowers with legal action, such as liens…
On April 6, 2021, the Pennsylvania Attorney General (Pennsylvania AG) announced that it reached an agreement with a Texas-based debt buyer concerning a portfolio of student loan debt it purchased from a now-defunct for-profit college. According to the Pennsylvania AG, the debt purchaser purchased the portfolio of loans after the for-profit college abruptly closed in December 2018 due to…
On April 6, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a third-party debt collection company and its former owner for alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531, 5536 and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. The CFPB alleged that…
On March 4, 2021, Virginia’s Attorney General (AG) announced that it had reached a settlement with an open-end credit lender, resolving allegations that the lender violated the state’s consumer finance statutes. The AG alleged that from September 2013 through July 2017, the lender charged $100 origination fees on loans that were in…
On March 3, Virginia’s Attorney General announced that the state reached a settlement with a student debt relief company for alleged Virginia Consumer Protection Act (VCPA) violations. The simultaneously filed complaint alleged that from February 2015 through August 2018, the company misled nearly 2,200 student borrowers into purchasing student debt relief…