On April 22, 2020, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced a settlement with a point-of-sale lender that offered consumers a “buy now, pay later” option for payment. The DBO alleged that these products were akin to lending, but were illegal loans because the lender did not have the…
On April 29, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it settled allegations that an Illinois-based mortgage lender violated the False Claims Act (FCA), the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), and Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act (PFCRA) by falsely certifying that it complied with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance…
On March 30, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had reached a settlement with three student loan debt relief companies and their owner, resolving allegations that the companies made false promises to consumers and charged illegal fees in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA), 15…
On March 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had entered into a $2.47 million settlement agreement with a national reverse mortgage lender in order to resolve allegations that the bank’s predecessor entity had failed to meet the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) criteria in originating and…
On April 1, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with an installment-loan lender, resolving allegations that the lender violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a), 5536(a)(1)(B), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq….
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued a policy statement for credit reporting companies and furnishers concerning credit reporting guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This announcement comes in the wake of the interagency statement encouraging financial institutions to work constructively with borrowers and other customers affected by…
On March 9, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a lawsuit against a national bank in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging that the bank opened unauthorized accounts and enrolled customers in unauthorized products and services without consumers’ knowledge or consent. According to the CFPB’s complaint, the…
On March 9, 2020, the Massachusetts attorney general’s office (Massachusetts AG) announced that it had entered into a consent judgment with a national used car company resolving allegations that the company’s local Massachusetts franchise engaged in predatory lending and deceptive sales of defective vehicles. According to the Massachusetts AG’s complaint, filed in September 2017, the company sold…
On February 20, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, and Arkansas Attorney General’s Office announced that they had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina against a group of defendants who brokered contracts offering high-interest credit to…
On January 30, 2020, the CFPB filed a complaint against a national bank in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. The complaint alleges that the bank violated the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq., TILA’s implementing Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. pt. 1026, and the Consumer…