On December 6, 2018, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (“CFPB”) announced that two days earlier it had filed a complaint and stipulated final judgment and order against a Nevada-based non-bank mortgage company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. The mortgage company allegedly violated the Consumer…
On December 4, 2018, one of the nation’s largest debt buyers and its subsidiaries reached a settlement with 42 states and the District of Columbia (see, e.g., announcements here and here). The settlement closes the states’ multi-year investigation into the company’s collection and litigation practices, including alleged violations of the…
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 June 7, 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an order dismissing administrative proceedings against PHH Corp. The dismissal follows a January 31, 2018 opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (D.C. Circuit) reinstating the court’s prior interpretation of Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). According to the…
On April 19, 2018, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office (“Illinois AG”) announced that it had filed a complaint against a Nevada-based company that claimed to “purchase” portions of consumers’ pension plans. According to the complaint, these transactions constituted predatory installment loans with excessive interests rates in violation of Illinois law. The complaint alleges that the…
On March 12, 2018, the California Department of Business Oversight (California DBO) announced that it reached a settlement with a payday lender over allegations that the lender improperly raised the principal value of its vehicle-secured loans to avoid interest rate caps imposed by the California Finance Law, Fin. Code §…
On January 25, 2018, a Florida-based homebuilder filed its Form 10-K annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), disclosing that its “mortgage subsidiary has been subpoenaed by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the adequacy of certain underwriting and quality control processes related to Federal Housing Administration (FHA)…
In August 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted partial summary judgment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in a federal lawsuit against a California-based online payday lender, its individual owner, its subsidiary, and a servicer of its loans (“Defendants”), where the CFPB alleged that…
On October 12, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed suit against two debt-relief companies and their owners, and a third company that processed payments for and provided other services in connection the debt-relief providers. The complaint alleges violations under the Consumer Financial Protection Act of…
On September 29, 2017, the Texas Attorney General (Texas AG) announced that it reached settlement in the form of an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with a lead generation company that directed business to a debt relief company that the Texas AG sued in 2013 for providing fraudulent and illegal debt-relief services. The…
On June 30, 2017, the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia AG) announced that it had entered into a proposed consent order to resolve an action filed in Richmond City Circuit Court against a Virginia-based pawn broker that allegedly assessed excessive fees, made motor-vehicle-secured loans without a title loan license, and charged illegal interest…
On June 21, 2017, a federal judge in the Western District of Wisconsin accepted a Stipulated Final Judgment and Order (“Stipulated Judgment“) based on an agreement between the CFPB and the bankruptcy trustee of a now defunct mortgage relief law firm. The Stipulated Judgment comes three years after the CFPB…
On June 22, 2017, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General (“New Jersey AG”) and the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs (“New Jersey DCA”) announced a settlement with a Georgia financing company that facilitates on-the-spot financing for home improvements through participating home improvement contractors. The New Jersey DCA opened…
On June 16, 2017, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General (“New Jersey AG”) and the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs announced a settlement with a for-profit student loan consolidation service that allegedly operated in the State of New Jersey without a debt-adjuster license. The New Jersey AG brought the action…
On April 27, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced the filing of a suit against four online lenders alleging that the lenders illegally collected debts on invalid loans. The complaint alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a), 5536(a), and 5564(a), and the Truth in Lending Act (TILA),…
On April 26, 2017, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it reached a consent order with an Ohio-based auto lender that allegedly violated a prior CFPB consent order by failing to properly return $1 million in refunds and credits to its customers. According to the CFPB, the auto lender specializes in auto loans to servicemembers. Under…
On April 21, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the lower court’s decision denying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) petition to investigate a college accreditation organization. The Court limited its holding to the particular Civil Investigative Demand (CID), finding that the Notification of Purpose within…
On April 24, 2017, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that a federal court ordered the president of a debt collection company to pay $2 million in civil penalties under the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). A Judge in the U.S. District Court…
On March 9, 2017, the North Carolina Attorney General (“AG”) announced that it had settled a lawsuit filed in the Wake County, North Carolina Superior Court against three debt relief companies and two individuals. As a result of the settlement, the court entered an order banning the companies and individuals from advertising or providing debt relief…
On March 7, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas entered a stipulated order prohibiting a national debt relief provider from making misleading claims about its debt relief services. The court also entered a $9 million judgment against the defendants, with all but…