On March 30, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a student-loan servicer for alleged deceptive acts and practices in violation of the CFPA, 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a), 5536(a)(1)(B). The CFPB alleged that the servicer made deceptive statements to student loan borrowers and misrepresented their…
On March 21, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it obtained a permanent injunction against a credit repair company and its CEO, barring the company from making representations that it can improve consumers’ credit scores. The injunction was issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in relation…
On March 11, 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Eastern District of Virginia filed a consent order and settlement with a Virginia-based credit union for alleged violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleged that the defendant unlawfully charged…
On March 9, 2022 the Arizona Attorney General (AG) filed a proposed consent judgment with a California-based lender and its corporate affiliates in Arizona state court. The operative complaint, filed May 7, 2020, alleged that the defendants violated the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, A.R.S. § 44-1521, et seq., and state usury laws, by making…
Goodwin’s Consumer Financial Services Enforcement & Investigations and Litigation practices are once again proud to present our annual Consumer Finance Year In Review. Industry regulators staked out a clear intent to return to normal, rescinding pandemic-specific policies and letting go of relaxed enforcement. Reviewing the key developments and events in…
On February 8, 2022, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (Massachusetts AG) announced that it entered into a settlement agreement with a lender concerning its subprime auto loan disclosure and debt collection practices. The Massachusetts AG filed an assurance of discontinuance in Suffolk County Superior Court alleging that the lender failed to provide consumers with adequate disclosures regarding how deficiencies…
On February 8, 2022, the Attorney General for the District of Columbia (DC AG) announced that a Delaware-based online lender has agreed to pay $3.3 million to refund over 2,500 consumers who allegedly received misleadingly high-cost loans and lines of credit. This agreement resolves a lawsuit filed by the DC AG in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia,…
On January 26, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it resolved claims against the remaining defendants in an action concerning student loan debt relief products and services that commenced in 2019. As we previously reported, the FTC filed a complaint against a collection of interrelated companies in November 2019, alleging that they used fraudulent…
On January 18, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had agreed to a settlement with a payment processing company, resolving allegations that the company assisted third parties in profiting from fraudulent services and products. The proposed stipulated judgment, if entered by the court, will resolve allegations that the company was processing…
On January 14, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it reached an agreement with a student loan servicer that had serviced loans under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program. The agreement resolves allegations that the loan servicer submitted false claims to the Department of Education (DOE) in violation of the False Claims Act (FCA)….