On October 4, 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with online retailer and its subsidiaries that sells products through revolving-credit accounts and installment-credit accounts, and then sells charged-off account to third-party debt collectors. The consent order resolves the CFPB’s allegations…
On September 13, 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced that it filed a complaint against a lender, its president, and related entities (“Defendants”) for allegedly making small-dollar loans in exchange for borrowers’ monthly pension payments, which the CFPB alleges is a violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act, 12 U.S.C. § 5536(a)(1)(B). The Complaint…
On September 28, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had reached a settlement with loan debt relief operators in connection with the coordinated federal-state enforcement initiative to target deceptive student loan debt relief scams, called “Operation Game of Loans.” According to the FTC, the operators violated the federal law by allegedly…
On September 28, 2018, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California (USAO) announced a civil settlement with an online peer-to-peer lender over allegations that it made false statements to its loan originator, resulting in the origination of over 200 loans to consumers who did not satisfy…
On September 21, 2018, the Attorney General for the State of Washington announced a lawsuit against three debt collection agencies and their owner, alleging that they violated the state’s Collection Agency Act, RCW 19.16.100 et seq., and the state’s Consumer Protection Act, RCW 19.86.010 et seq. The complaint, filed in…
On September 21, New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced a stipulated court order against three entities and individuals for illegal debt collection practices (collectively, “defendants”), which permanently bans the defendants from the debt collection industry and requires collective payment of almost $27 million in restitution and damages. The court…
On September 20, New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced a lawsuit against nine student loan debt relief companies, their financing company, and two individuals with leadership roles in several of the companies (collectively, “defendants”). The lawsuit alleges that defendants violated the Federal Credit Repair Organization Act, 15 U.S.C. §…
On September 7, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with a Georgia debt collection company and its principals over alleged illegal collection practices. In October 2017, the FTC filed an action against the defendants alleging violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. §§ 45(a), 53(b),…
On August 10, 2018, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (“Board of Governors”) announced that a national bank had consented to the assessment of a civil money penalty totaling $8.6 million pursuant to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, as amended, 12 U.S.C. §§ 1818(b)(3) and 1818(i)(2)(B), for engaging in…
On August 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a settlement entered in the Western District of Missouri regarding the alleged unlawful origination and servicing of online payday loans. The Bureau filed suit against two individual and twenty allegedly related entities controlled by those individuals, asserting violations of the…