In the third quarter of 2016, Consumer Enforcement Watch tracked 37 enforcement actions taken against consumer financial service providers. This represents a decrease from the 46 enforcement actions that were tracked last quarter and the 50 actions that we tracked in Q1. 25 of the Q3 enforcement actions were settlements…
On November 21, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland against a structured settlement company and certain of the company’s principals, alleging that the company violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) by defrauding lead paint victims. According to the…
The results of the recent election have led to speculation regarding what legal changes are in store for the consumer financial services industry and the CFPB in particular. Although President-elect Trump and other Republicans have made statements regarding “dismantling” the Dodd-Frank Act, few concrete proposals have been put forward. In…
On November 10, 2016, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the owner of a debt collection company was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay $3.9 million in restitution to consumers. After a five day trial, the jury found that…
On November 3, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed suit against a Virginia pawnbroker, alleging that the pawnbroker violated the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) by failing to disclose an annual percentage rate (APR) on its closed-end pawn contracts. According…
On November 2, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and New York Attorney General (AG) announced the filing of a complaint in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York against participants in a purported New York-based nationwide debt collection scheme. According to the complaint, the…
On October 11, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a national credit union over allegations that the credit union made false and misleading representations to consumers when attempting to collect on past due accounts. The credit union serves military members and their families. The…
Today the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued its long-awaited ruling in the PHH v. CFPB appeal (opinion here). LLW has written about the PHH case here and here before, and below are some quick takeaways from the court’s 110-page ruling for industry watchers: The court determined that…
On September 22, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against a credit repair company for allegedly making misleading representations and charging illegal fees. The case, CFPB v. Prime Marketing Holdings, LLC, No. 2:16-cv-7111 (C.D. Cal.),…
On September 23, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed suit against a credit repair company in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, for alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), and the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention…
On September 21, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed five individual administrative lawsuits against Arizona title lenders. Each suit concerns allegations that the title lenders’ online advertisements failed to disclose title annual percentage rates, in violation of the Truth in Lending Act. Instead, the Bureau alleged, the companies…
On September 12, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced the issuance of a consent order with a for-profit college chain that allegedly deceived its students into taking out loans that were more expensive than advertised. For the last several years, the for-profit education company allegedly had enrolled hundreds of thousands of…
On September 8, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that, pursuant to a Consent Order, a national bank agreed to make full restitution to consumers and pay the CFPB a $100 million fine because many of its employees allegedly engaged in an illegal practice of opening unauthorized deposit and credit…
On August 31, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) obtained summary judgment against a California-based online payday lender, its individual owner, its subsidiary, and a servicer of its loans, which allegedly used a “rent-a-tribe” scheme to avoid state usury and licensing laws in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act. According to the…
On August 31, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its Monthly Complaint Report for August 2016, this month focusing on complaints concerning bank accounts and related services. The report, which compiles data from the CFPB’s complaint database to compare consumer complaints by subject, geography, and company on a…
On August 25, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced an order against a national bank that will require the bank to pay $32.25 million in consumer relief and civil penalties based on practices relating to credit card add-on products. These practices allegedly violated sections 1031 and 1036(a)(1)(B) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act…
On August 25, 2016, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that it had agreed to consent orders with a national bank based on its alleged unfair billing practices. The civil money penalty order will require that the bank pay a $3 million civil money penalty. The cease and desist…
On August 22, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a large national bank in relation to the company’s private student loan servicing practices. The CFPB asserts that the bank’s practices allegedly increased costs and penalized certain borrowers, leading to illegal fees and inaccurate credit…
*Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on our firm site as a client alert. Summary On July 28, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the CFPB) released a summary of proposals it is considering to reform debt collection practices. At the same time, it released a Study of Third Party Debt…
With the end of the Department of Treasury’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) coming in January 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) has released a set of four principles for financial institutions to use when considering how to help a borrower avoid foreclosure. These principals are intended “to complement ongoing…