On February 12, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a report to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding its efforts to implement the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The full report can be reviewed here. According to the report, in 2015, the Commission: coordinated the first federal-state-local enforcement initiative targeting deceptive…
As an ongoing update to our coverage of the Spokeo case, today we look at what could happen in the case where, with Justice Scalia’s recent death coming after oral argument but before an opinion was issued, the court’s new composition has created some ambiguity regarding the outcome. Given that there is an eight person…
Do borrowers have standing to challenge a non-judicial foreclosure on the ground of alleged defects in an assignment from the original lender to a successor? This is a question that has divided courts, both in California and across the country. See, e.g., Glaski v. Bank of Am., 218 Cal. App….
On February 18, 2016, the CFPB released its final policy regarding the issuance of No-Action Letters (NALs). While some in the industry question the efficacy of the new policy, lenders and other consumer financial service providers should be aware of the policy so they can utilize it if and when…
States have long imposed fees for recording land records documents, and until recently they have generally done so uniformly, without regard to who the parties to the document might be. The Connecticut Supreme Court has, however, just upheld a statute imposing dramatically higher filing fees for MERS-related documents. In 2013, the…
On January 28, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published its monthly consumer complaint snapshot, identifying the most recent trends in consumer complaints about various financial products and services. CFPB Monthly Complaint Rep., Jan. 2016, at 1. The report analyzes trends by complaint volume by product, state, and company. Id. at 3-10….
On December 3, 2015, the Eleventh Circuit issued an opinion that has carved a path for plaintiffs challenging their communications with loan servicers. The decision, Prescott v. Seterus, Inc., reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant, Seterus, Inc. — Fed.Appx. —, 2015 WL 7769235 (S.D. Fla.,…
On February 3, 2016, in conjunction with a Field Hearing held the same day concerning deposit accounts, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a compliance bulletin on the duties of furnishers of information to maintain adequate policies and procedures that comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) (15…
Last month, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California issued the latest in a string of decisions denying class certification in cases of alleged misconduct regarding residential mortgage loan modifications. Beginning in 2010 and 2011, mortgage servicers saw a marked increase in cases challenging their loan modification…
Scrutiny of the CFPB’s auto-lending supervision and enforcement practices was renewed last week when Republicans on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services issued another scathing report criticizing the agency, this time focusing on its handling of the distribution of the Ally Financial auto-lending settlement funds. Concurrently with…
We have an update on Campbell-Ewald, one of the Supreme Court cases we were monitoring last fall. While, contrary to our prediction, the majority decision in Campbell-Ewald, 577 U.S. ___ (2016) appears to deal a blow to companies seeking a mechanism to settle class actions effectively by offering complete relief to…
In December 2015, the CFPB took action against non-bank auto lender CarHop. In so doing, the CFPB continued to carry out its stated intention of expanding its regulatory oversight to large non-bank auto lenders. The CFPB ordered CarHop and its affiliated financing company, Universal Acceptance Corporation (Universal), to cease their…
Late last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revealed an ongoing nationwide enforcement initiative targeting debt collectors, called Operation Protection Collection. The initiative is the first of its kind coordinated crackdown by state and federal enforcers targeting abusive and deceptive debt collection practices. According to statements by the FTC, the…
Often overlooked by lenders and servicers, sometimes striking a deal with the Chapter 7 Trustee in bankruptcy court, is the more prudent and cost effective approach to resolving frivolous lawsuits filed by defaulting borrowers in state court. In Brumfiel v. Lewis, Chapter 7 Trustee, et al. (In re Lisa Kay…
Thomas Hefferon, chair of Goodwin Procter’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation Practice, will serve as a conference co-chair and speak on a panel regarding the CFPB’s increasing regulation of the consumer finance industry titled “Evaluating the Lessons Learned from Recent CFPB Enforcement Actions, Regulation of Arbitration Agreements in Consumer Credit Contracts,…
On December 9, 2015, the House Financial Services Committee reported a Bill to Congress that would impact the cybersecurity compliance of financial services companies. The Bill, H.R. 2205, would set standards for development and implementation of cybersecurity protocols; require investigation and notification of breaches; and allow administrative enforcement. One of…
David Permut, a partner in Goodwin Procter’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation Practice will speak on the panel ” Focus on Class Actions: New Trends in Certification Motions; the Latest on Early Resolution and Settlement Strategy; Recent CAFA and Removal Developments; and Reviewing Campbell-Ewald v. Gomez on Rule 68, Offering Relief…
Don’t miss the Goodwin Procter team (Margaret Crockett and David Permut) at the Welcome Reception on January 9, 2016 at 6:30. Other highlights of the Winter Meeting, include: a panel presentation called “RESPA Update: Lighthouse, and PHH, and MSAs, oh my!” and a CLE Program presented by the Housing Finance Subcommittee,…
Facing yet another issue involving the arbitration of consumer disputes, the United States Supreme Court on December 14, 2015 held that a class action waiver clause was valid even when the contract incorporated state law standards that would have voided the waiver. The decision continued the Court’s trend toward enforcement…
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…