On July 22, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission announced that the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida had granted its motion for a temporary restraining order against a debt relief company that allegedly targeted Spanish-speaking consumers in Puerto Rico, among others. The FTC has alleged that the company “pretended to…
On July 19, 2024, the Federal Reserve Board announced it had fined a Utah-based company that offers prepaid debit cards $44 million for alleged unfair and deceptive practices as well as an alleged deficient consumer compliance risk management program. In its Order to Cease and Desist and Order of Assessment of…
On April 23, 2024, the Minnesota Attorney General announced his office had sued a used-car dealer and its owner for violation of multiple state consumer protection statutes. The suit’s allegations include that the dealer “(1) misrepresent[ed] that its used cars are certified when they are not; (2) illegally add[ed] expensive vehicle service contracts…
On January 31, the Federal Trade Commission announced that a federal court in Illinois entered final orders against a telemarketing company and its owners as part of a judgment against an allegedly illegal telemarketing scheme. In the lawsuit, the FTC accused the defendants of making millions of illegal, unsolicited calls to people who were…
On December 20, 2023, the CFPB announced that, along with the DOJ, it had filed suit against a Texas-based developer and lender for operating an allegedly illegal land sales scheme that targeted Hispanic borrowers. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, alleges that the lender sells…
On December 19, 2023, the CFPB announced it had entered into a consent order with a national bank regarding its handling of consumers’ unemployment benefits accounts. The bank had contracted with at least 19 states to deliver unemployment benefits to consumers. The CFPB accused the bank of violating the Consumer Financial Protection…
On November 8, 2023, the CFPB and a national bank entered into a consent order to resolve allegations that the bank engaged in intentional discrimination against Armenian Americans who had applied for credit cards with said bank. Specifically, the CFPB alleges that between 2016 and 2021, the bank singled out…
On October 17, 2023, the California Attorney General announced that 48 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico had reached a $10 million settlement with a payment processing company related to allegations of attempted unauthorized withdrawals related to a testing error on the part of the processing company. According to the press release,…
On August 28, the CFPB announced it reached a proposed settlement agreement with a credit repair conglomerate for $2.7 billion. The parties await approval of the proposed settlement by the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. In its amended complaint filed last August, the CFPB alleged that the defendant companies collected advance…
On August 21, the FTC announced that the U.S. District Court of Central California issued a temporary restraining order against two companies accused of targeting students seeking debt relief and collecting $8.8 million in illegal advanced fees in exchange for student loan debt relief services that did not exist. In its complaint,…
On July 5, the Mississippi Attorney General (AG) announced that it filed an action against two companies for allegedly violating the Mississippi Telephone Solicitation Act (MTSA). The AG alleges these companies made nearly 1,000 unauthorized calls to Mississippi residents on the “Do Not Call Registry.” The MTSA took effect four…
On June 8, the CFPB announced it had entered into a consent order with a third-party debt collector over allegations of illegal medical debt collecting practices and unfair credit reporting. The CFPB asserted that the company attempted to collect on unsubstantiated debt in over a thousand cases. According to the CFPB, its…
On Tuesday May 23, the CFPB announced it had reached a settlement with a large bank to resolve allegations that the bank had violated consumer protection laws in connection with credit card transactions. The CFPB alleged that the bank “failed to properly manage and respond to customers’ credit card disputes and…
On March 20, the Indiana Attorney General (IN AG) announced it had reached a settlement with a group of Indiana companies regarding loans that were allegedly originated through deceptive means or were otherwise unlicensed. The settlement was reached in collaboration with the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions (DFI). The IN AG…
On September 13, 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Southern District of Texas announced that it had reached a settlement with a bank that served as a lender under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to resolve allegations that the lender violated the False Claims Act (FCA) in issuing processing a PPP…
On August 16, 2022, the Pennsylvania Attorney General announced that a group of attorneys general for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the States of New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, and the District of Columbia (collectively, “the AGs”) had filed a multistate lawsuit against a personal lending company for allegedly charging consumers for “hidden add-on products” in violation of various…
On August 10, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a California Fintech company for allegedly engaging in deceptive acts and practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act. According to the CFPB, the company offered an automatic savings tool to customers through which customers would grant the…
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 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 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….