On December 17, 2015, the CFPB announced a consent order and settlement with a Minnesota-based auto dealer and its affiliated financing company regarding their credit reporting practices in 15 states. The consent order asserts that the companies violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act…
On December 16, 2015, the CFPB announced a consent order and settlement with a small-dollar lender concerning its debt collection practices in 15 states. According to the consent order, the lender’s unlawful conduct allegedly included: in-person collection visits at consumers’ homes and workplaces and phone calls to supervisors, landlords, and…
On November 24, 2015, Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee released a report sharply criticizing the CFPB’s methodology for enforcing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) with regard to indirect automobile lending. The report, entitled, “Unsafe at Any Bureaucracy: CFPB Junk Science and Indirect Auto Lending,” adds to the…
On November 24, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it reached a settlement agreement with two Ohio auto dealers relating to allegations that the auto dealers violated Section 184 of the Consumer Leasing Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1667c, and Section 213.7 of Regulation M, 12 C.F.R. § 213.7. Specifically, the FTC’s administrative complaint alleged that the auto dealers failed to disclose key…
On November 20, 2015, the CFPB published its current rulemaking agenda. Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, the CFPB drafts and implements new regulations governing certain consumer finance products and services. The CFPB publishes its regulatory agenda twice a year, which summarizes the proposed regulations (or “rules”) the Bureau is…
On November 5, 2015 the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office announced that a national auto loan company agreed to pay $5.4 million in restitution to Massachusetts consumers to settle allegations it charged excessive interest rates on automobile loans. According to the Massachusetts AG, the company purchased loans from primary creditors that contained…
On October 28, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered an administrative consent order against an Ohio-based auto lender that specializes in loans to military servicemembers. The CFPB consent order, and the companion stipulated order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, resolve…
On October 20, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it approved final consent orders against two Law Vegas auto dealers for misrepresenting the cost of cars in advertising, which the dealers had agreed to settle back in June (available here and here). The complaints (available here and here) alleged that the…
On October 1, 2015, the CFPB announced an enforcement action and consent order with an indirect auto lender for illegal debt collection and other practices. It is alleged that the company’s actions violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Truth in Lending Act, and the Dodd-Frank Act. The illegal…
On September 23, 2015, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office announced a settlement with a regional automobile title loan company over allegations the company charged illegal interest rates and fees to borrowers. The company operated websites that offered automobile title loans to Vermont consumers. Consumers who were approved for the loans assigned…
On August 18, 2015, the Oregon Attorney General’s Office and the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services announced that they filed a lawsuit against a regional automobile loan company. The company advertised car title loans online. When consumers completed the online applications, the company allegedly deceived them into signing…
On August 10, 2015, the American subsidiary of an automotive lending company disclosed in an SEC filing that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) had notified the company on July 31, 2015 that it had asked the DOJ to investigate the company’s potential violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. According to the filing, the CFPB’s referral…
On July 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that claims concerning an indirect auto finance company’s alleged discriminatory lending practices were settled as part of a consent order requiring $24 million in restitution payments to borrowers and changes to the lender’s dealer compensation system. The consent order alleges…
On July 10, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had entered into a consent order permanently banning a state debt relief services provider from advertising or providing debt relief services. The complaint, filed on January 26, alleged that the provider violated the Federal Trade Commission Act and Telemarketing and Consumer…
On July 10, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had entered a consent order with affiliated auto dealerships that allegedly misrepresented to consumers that auto payment programs or add-on products would save them money. The consent order prohibits the dealerships from representing that any payment program or add-on product or…
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent action against two credit card vendors regarding credit monitoring and identity theft protection services is a reminder of the legal risks associated with certain add-on products. The July 1 settlement, in which the CFPB found that the vendors misled customers about the benefits of…
On June 10, 2015, the CFPB issued a Final Rule amending the scope of its regulatory authority to include “larger participants” of the automobile financing industry. Under the Final Rule, the CFPB will supervise certain nonbank auto finance companies that (1) originate loans for the purchase of automobiles; (2) refinance…
On June 23, 2015, the West Virginia Attorney General announced a settlement with an automobile title loan and debt collection company over claims the company engaged in abusive debt collection practices. According to the West Virginia Attorney General, the company repeatedly called consumers at inconvenient times regarding their delinquent loan payments and…
On June 17, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a complaint against a national automobile finance company over allegations that the finance company used illegal threats and deceptive tactics to collect debts from military servicemembers. The complaint alleges that the finance company violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act…
On Wednesday, June 10, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced a new rule that grants the CFPB the ability to monitor nonbank companies that qualify as “larger participants of a market for automobile financing.” The CFPB simultaneously adopted a separate rule defining certain automobile leases as a “financial…