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 September 2, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it had entered into a consent order with a Delaware-based VA-mortgage lender, resolving allegations that the company had engaged in deceptive practices against servicemembers and veterans. The CFPB found that since April 2018 the Company had mailed current and former servicemembers misleading advertisements…
On September 1, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced that it had issued a consent order against a Maryland-based corporation offering VA-guaranteed loans in twelve states. According to the consent order, the CFPB found the company had sent consumers millions of advertisements containing deceptive or misleading statements and inadequate disclosures, in violation of…
On September 14, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a mortgage broker and lender that advertises and offers mortgage loans guaranteed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) through direct-mail advertisements sent primarily to United States military…
On August 26, 2020 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a California-based mortgage lender, resolving allegations that the company violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) and Truth in Lending Act (TILA) by engaging in deceptive acts and practices with…
On August 18, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a proposed rule to create a new category of loans known as “seasoned” qualified mortgages (Seasoned QMs). This new category of qualified mortgages would require loans to meet certain performance requirements over a 36-month seasoning period, after which the…
On August 21, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had a reached a settlement with a California-based lender, resolving allegations that the lender had sent deceptive loan advertisements to servicemembers and veterans in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), the Mortgage Acts and Practices…
On July 24, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered consent orders (here and here) against two California-based mortgage lenders, resolving allegations that the lenders violated the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1601–1667f, and its implementing regulation, Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. § 1026.24;…
On June 23, 2020, the New York Office of Attorney General (New York AG) announced that it reached a $17 million settlement with a mortgage originator and servicer. The New York AG alleged that the company violated New York’s mortgage servicing regulations, 3 N.Y.C.R.R. Part 419, by failing to make reasonable and…
On June 23, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it reached a settlement with three companies that issued contracts for deeds with consumers. According to the CFPB, between 2010 and 2016, these companies allegedly had a business plan of acquiring foreclosed properties in bulk and reselling them to consumers through seller financing…
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently issued a joint statement concerning mortgage loan forbearances under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The joint statement signals the types of conduct that may become the focus of CFPB and…
The sudden financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumers has led to calls for loan servicers and other interested parties to provide temporary or permanent relief for borrowers who are unable to continue making loan payments. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), guidance in the…
On May 11, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) settled with a Colorado-based mortgage servicer that serviced a portfolio of mortgage loans worth approximately $112.69 billion. According to the CFPB, the Bureau found that the servicer violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), 12 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., and its implementing…
On May 1, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) held a joint virtual meeting of its four advisory committees: the Consumer Advisory Board, the Community Bank Advisory Council, the Credit Union Advisory Council, and the Academic Research Council. The meeting—the Bureau’s first public event since the onset…
On March 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had entered into a $2.47 million settlement agreement with a national reverse mortgage lender in order to resolve allegations that the bank’s predecessor entity had failed to meet the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) criteria in originating and…
On January 10, 2020, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced that, in concert with the New York Attorney General (New York AG), it had entered into a consent order and settlement with an unlicensed mortgage-lending business to resolve allegations that the business illegally made predatory, subprime loans in…
On December 30, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada had ruled in its favor in a case against the operators of a mortgage scheme that deceived homeowners, which was filed in January 2018. Per the findings of the final…
On July 23, 2019, Delaware’s Department of Justice, Consumer Protection Unit (“Delaware CPU”) announced that it reached a settlement with two-California based companies that would require them to cease advertising and selling loan modification and debt relief services in the state of Delaware. According to the cease and desist agreement, the companies and their…
On June 18, 2019, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced that it entered into a settlement and consent order with a mortgage servicer over an alleged failure to pay interest on escrow impound accounts for 94,483 residential mortgage loans. Servicers are required to pay interest on such accounts under…
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…