Earlier this month, the CFPB announced that it may propose rules designed to curtail or eliminate class-action waivers from arbitration clauses. Arbitration clauses appear in most financial-services contracts to provide both parties with a cheaper alternative to litigation. Dubbing such clauses “a free pass [to] sidestep the legal system, avoid…
On October 8, an article published in the Wall Street Journal disclosed that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is investigating the student loan servicing practices of a national bank. Sources indicated that the bank, which is the second largest private student-loan originator by volume, has been under investigation since at least late last…
The CFPB issued a new report on September 29, 2015, making clear that it is targeting student loan servicing for a set of industry-wide reforms. Servicers should be on notice that the CFPB is reviewing new standards for them to follow. The CFPB report is the result of a public inquiry…
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 29, 2015, the CFPB released a report outlining perceived failures in servicing of both private and federal student loans. Some of the issues identified in the report include: servicers not disclosing alternative repayment programs; servicing transfers resulting in processing problems, such as surprise fees and lost repayment benefits; customer service…
Arguably the most pressing topic at this year’s Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Regulatory Compliance Conference (held on September 20-22, 2015 in Washington, D.C.) was the implementation of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) Rule, which will take effect on October 3, 2015. While industry leaders at the conference generally seemed to accept…
On September 28, 2015, the CFPB and DOJ announced a consent order and settlement with a national bank to resolve allegations that the bank’s auto lending practices violated ECOA. The bank allegedly allowed its auto dealer partners to charge a “dealer markup” as high as 2.5 percent above the risk-based interest rate set by the…
On September 28, 2015, the CFPB announced that it had entered into a consent order and settlement with a national bank for alleged violations of the Dodd-Frank Act’s UDAAP provision for deceptive acts or practices in the marketing and sales of its “Debt Protection” credit card add-on product. The debt…
On September 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida had issued two preliminary injunctions against affiliated national debt relief providers and their officers stemming from a lawsuit filed by the CFPB alleging that the debt relief providers misrepresented the nature of their…
*Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on our sister blog, Consumer Finance Enforcement Watch. Visit CFEW for more real-time reporting on the full range of public federal and state consumer finance enforcement activity.* For the second quarter of 2015, Consumer Finance Enforcement Watch tracked 56 enforcement actions taken against consumer finance providers,…
On September 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a final order settling claims against the CEO of a bankrupt debt relief company under the Consumer Financial Protection Act, Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse and Prevention Act, and Telemarketing Sales Rule. The CEO admitted to charging upfront fees for the…
On September 9, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into consent orders with two large debt purchasers for alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Consumer Financial Protection Act, and Fair Credit Reporting Act. CFPB alleged that the companies purchased debts that they knew or…
Student lending continues to remain in the crosshairs of federal and state consumer finance regulators during the summer months, with over five enforcement actions and investigations in recent weeks. As covered in both LenderLaw Watch (LLW) and Consumer Finance Enforcement Watch (CFEW), this is a small part of a larger…
On August 24, 2015, a large student loan company disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it “received a letter from the CFPB notifying [it] that, in accordance with the CFPB’s discretionary Notice of Opportunity to Respond and Advise (“NORA”) process, the CFPB’s Office of Enforcement is considering recommending…
On August 20, 2015, the CFPB and the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced they had filed a lawsuit in federal court in California against two regional financial companies. According the complaint, the companies deceived consumers about the fees and interest rates associated with pension loans. The companies…
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 August 12, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it, along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), had entered into several consent orders with affiliated regional banks over allegations concerning consumer bank deposits. According to the consent orders,…
On August 6, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an order denying a petition to modify or set aside a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) issued to an employee of a marketing company that generates and sells leads. According to the petition, the CID sought oral testimony to determine “whether…
On August 5, 2010, the American Bankers Association (ABA) announced that it had sent a letter to federal regulators and enforcement agencies, requesting that they confirm in their “interagency guidance, updated exam procedures, and where appropriate amended regulations” that the burden-shifting framework used by the Supreme Court in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v….
On August 4, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced that it filed a complaint against several interrelated offshore companies accused of engaging in usurious lending. The complaint alleges that the companies originated, serviced and collected payday loans from consumers in all 50 states through the Internet. It is alleged that companies collected money…