On August 9, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with a Tustin-based student loan debt relief company, resolving allegations that the company violated the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) when it collected illegal advance fees under the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). This settlement comes as the…
On July 29, 2021, the FTC announced that it had reached a $450,000 settlement with the owner and manager of a group of auto dealerships. In a complaint originally filed in 2018 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, the FTC alleged that the owner, with his group of car dealerships,…
On July 29, 2021, the FTC announced it would be sending approximately $2.3 in refund checks to consumers who lost money in credit card relief schemes. The 7,786 refund checks average $293 each. The relief is part of a settlement the FTC reached with multiple defendants in two actions filed jointly with…
On July 12, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with two Florida-based companies and their CEO, resolving allegations that the companies aided a student debt relief scam by providing false or deceptive information in order to obtain merchant processing for the scheme. The settlement will permanently bar the two…
On July 21, 2021, the Mississippi Attorney General announced that it had reached a settlement with a national auto lender to resolve claims that the company placed borrowers into auto loans with a high probability of default. The Attorney General also alleged that the auto lender engaged in aggressive collection practices in violation…
On July 12, 2021 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that a consent order had been reached with an Atlanta-based non-bank lending company that would require the company to cancel up to $9 million in loans for consumers, resolving allegations that the fintech company violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) by originating and servicing unauthorized loans….
On July 14, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) entered into a settlement agreement with a national peer-to-peer personal loan lender to resolve allegations stemming form 2018 lawsuit that the FTC had filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Pursuant to the settlement, the lender agreed to pay $18 million to…
On June 29, 2021, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced it entered consent orders with two New York-based banks for allegedly violating New York’s fair lending laws in the course of providing auto loans. The banks will pay $275,000 and $350,000 in penalties to the state to resolve the allegations. DFS alleged that the…
On June 29, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it filed a proposed stipulated order with a Maryland-based debt relief and credit repair company concerning alleged violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). If accepted by the court, the order would ban the company and its…
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…