On June 29, 2022, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office announced that it had resolved allegations that a motor vehicle title lender made illegal loans to customers and repossessed cars to collect payments, with a settlement agreement that requires the lender to pay over $900,000 in redress to consumers. The Attorney General alleged that the motor…
On June 22, 2022, the USAO for the Eastern District of Washington announced that it had reached a settlement with a California-based mortgage lender for fraudulent originations of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) backed loans. The investigation began as a qui tam action filed under seal in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern…
On June 9, 2022, the CFPB announced that it had reached an agreement with the former owner of a student-loan debt relief company banning the owner from the debt-relief industry. The CFPB filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California alleging that the individual violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act…
On June 2, 2022, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it reached a settlement agreement with a non-bank residential mortgage lender to resolve allegations of race-based lending discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), 42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq. The settlement arose from a complaint filed with a fair…
On May 26, 2022, the North Carolina Attorney General (NC AG) announced that it obtained a default judgment against a California-based debt settlement business, and its proprietor. The lawsuit, filed on June 25, 2021 in the North Carolina Superior Court for Wake County, alleged that the entity violated North Carolina’s Debt Adjusting Act, N.C. Gen. Stat….
On May 31, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it had filed a complaint against a group of related companies and its owners for allegedly scamming consumers out of more than $213 million through operation of a credit repair scheme. The FTC alleges that the company violated Section 5(a) of the FTC…
On May 23, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the New York Attorney General (NY AG) announced that they have settled a case filed against six New York debt collection companies and affiliated individuals, resolving a one-and-a-half year enforcement action. The original complaint was filed on September 20, 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the Western…
On May 19, 2022, the Arizona Attorney General, along with the attorneys general of 34 other states, announced a settlement with a large subprime auto lender. If approved, the settlement would resolve a multistate investigation in which the attorneys general alleged that the lender issued high-interest loans knowing consumers were likely to default based…
On May 16, 2022, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office (Arizona AG) announced that it reached a settlement agreement with the owner of several debt collection companies regarding alleged deceptive debt collection practices in violation of state law. The agreement resolves a lawsuit by the Arizona AG filed in September 2020, alleging that the companies collected or attempted to collect payments…
On May 11, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had resolved an enforcement action against two debt-relief payment processors and one of their co-founders. The CFPB alleged the processors improperly collected debt relief fees from consumers, misled consumers about timing of fee payments, and sent illegal fee advancements to debt-relief companies….