While it is early in the Biden administration, regulators are signaling that there will be a heightened focus on enforcement of consumer protection regulations. What should financial services companies expect in the year ahead in terms of government regulation and enforcement activity? Goodwin partners Tony Alexis (former CFPB), Bill Harrington…
On February 4, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) launched an investigation into whether four California-based student-loan debt-relief companies violated the new California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) and Student Loan Servicing Act (SLSA). The CCFPL took effect on January 1, 2021 and expanded the DFPI’s regulatory…
On September 14, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a settlement in its eighth case arising out of the CFPB’s “sweep of investigations” of mortgage companies allegedly mailing deceptive advertisements for VA-guaranteed mortgages to servicemembers and veterans. According to the CFPB, the “ongoing sweep of investigations reflects the…
On August 20, 2020, seven states – California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina – and the District of Columbia (together, the States) filed suit against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit, captioned…
On July 29, 2020, the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CFPB) held a symposium on the use of cost-benefit analysis in consumer financial protection regulation. CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger provided opening remarks, followed by two panels of experts. The first panel focused its discussion on how the CFPB uses cost-benefit analysis…
On June 18, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced the launch of its pilot advisory opinion (AO) program. The CFPB quickly followed this announcement by publishing a procedural rule implementing the pilot AO program, as well as a proposed procedural rule that would establish a permanent AO program…
On April 16, the Michigan Attorney General (AG) announced that an online tribal lender agreed to an assurance of voluntary compliance, resolving allegations that the lender violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). Specifically, the state filed suit seeking an injunction prohibiting the lender from offering or providing usurious loans in the…
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 October 21, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that, together with the Attorneys General (AGs) of Minnesota, North Carolina, and California, it had filed a complaint and sought a temporary restraining order in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against a group of debt relief companies. …
On September 30, 2019, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced a settlement with an Oregon-based bank over alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). According to the FDIC, the bank agreed to pay and accept fees for the referral of home mortgage…
On September 25, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland against a Maryland-based debt collector, its subsidiaries, and its CEO. According to the CFPB, the companies operated the largest debt-collection company in the multi-unit housing industry, collecting debt on…
On September 6, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against a Texas-based foreclosure relief services company, as well as the company’s CEO and auditor. The CFPB alleges that the defendants violated…
On May 29, 2009, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a Texas-based mortgage servicer, resolving allegations that the servicer had violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and the Truth in Lending Act…
On May 1, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a $3.9 million settlement with a student loan servicer, resolving allegations that the servicer engaged in unfair acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The parties’ consent order resolves allegations that the servicer failed to timely…
On May 2, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed suit in the District of Utah against defendants operating two of the largest credit repair companies in the country, alleging that the companies engaged in deceptive acts and practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) and Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR)….
On January 3, 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a $15.5 million consent order with a federally-chartered savings association bank. The consent order resolves allegations that the bank violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) and Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) between 2011 and 2016. Specifically, the CFPB…
On January 2, 2019, 49 state attorneys general reached a settlement with an Illinois-based for-profit education company, securing approximately $493.7 million in debt relief for over 179,000 students nationwide. The settlement is the result of a five-year investigation, which began in 2014 after states received complaints from students and the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions…
On November 20, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a settlement with a Texas-based financial services company, resolving allegations that the company violated sections 1031 and 1036 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531, 5536. Specifically, the CFPB alleged that the company engaged in deceptive…
On October 19, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it settled allegations that a Florida-based mortgage lender violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by falsely certifying that it complied with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance requirements for certain loans originated between 2006 and 2011 for $13.2 million. In the lawsuit, which…
On October 18, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued an order requiring a Kentucky bank to pay civil money penalties. The order resolves allegations that the bank violated section 122(a) of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), 15 U.S.C. § 1632(a), and section 1026.5(a)(1) of Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. § 1026.5(a)(1) by failing…