On July 12, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a consent order (the Consent Order) against a Fintech company that facilitates home improvement loans (the Fintech). The CFPB claims that the Fintech enabled “contractors and other merchants to take out loans on behalf of thousands of consumers who…
On July 12, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with two Florida-based companies and their CEO, resolving allegations that the companies aided a student debt relief scam by providing false or deceptive information in order to obtain merchant processing for the scheme. The settlement will permanently bar the two…
On July 21, 2021, the Mississippi Attorney General announced that it had reached a settlement with a national auto lender to resolve claims that the company placed borrowers into auto loans with a high probability of default. The Attorney General also alleged that the auto lender engaged in aggressive collection practices in violation…
On July 12, 2021 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that a consent order had been reached with an Atlanta-based non-bank lending company that would require the company to cancel up to $9 million in loans for consumers, resolving allegations that the fintech company violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) by originating and servicing unauthorized loans….
On June 28, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized amendments to the implementing regulation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), Regulation X, which would establish temporary protections for mortgage borrowers as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) and various Federal and State…
On July 14, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) entered into a settlement agreement with a national peer-to-peer personal loan lender to resolve allegations stemming form 2018 lawsuit that the FTC had filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Pursuant to the settlement, the lender agreed to pay $18 million to…
On June 25, 2021, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in Transunion v. Ramirez that provides further guidance on the thorny issue of class member standing. The case involved a class of 8,185 individuals whose Transunion credit reports contained an alert incorrectly labeling them as potential terrorists because…
On June 29, 2021, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced it entered consent orders with two New York-based banks for allegedly violating New York’s fair lending laws in the course of providing auto loans. The banks will pay $275,000 and $350,000 in penalties to the state to resolve the allegations. DFS alleged that the…
On June 29, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it filed a proposed stipulated order with a Maryland-based debt relief and credit repair company concerning alleged violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). If accepted by the court, the order would ban the company and its…
On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. The enactment of the new Federal holiday was an historic and welcome national event. Yet, the legislation making June 19 a Federal holiday—observed this year by the Federal government on Friday, June 18—was passed swiftly…
On June 3, 2021, the Second Circuit ruled that the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) lacked legal standing to challenge the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC’s) fintech charter program. The Second Circuit concluded that DFS lacked Article III standing because it failed to allege…
On June 8, 2020 the Washington Attorney General’s office (Washington AG) announced that a consent order had been reached with a Colorado-based debt collection agency that would require the agency to pay $475,000 to approximately 5,000 Washington consumers to resolve a lawsuit originally filed in April 2020 in Washington state…
On June 1, 2021, the Ninth Circuit, in CFPB v. Seila Law LLC, No. 17-56324, granted Seila Law LLC’s motion to stay the mandate requiring its compliance with a civil investigative demand, while it petitions the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari on the question of whether the…
On May 14, 2021, the Seventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals issued a decision reaffirming the rule from “a slew of cases” that, without injury, a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) claim alleging a bare procedural violation is not actionable. The case—Markakos v. Medicredi, Inc., No. 20-2351—involved an…
On May 28, 2021, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy (Massachusetts AG) announced a settlement with a bank, acting as an agent for lenders, which requires the bank to permanently discharge debts and return payments made by certain former students of a regional for-profit university. The settlement requires the bank to refund over $30,000 in recent loan repayments made by certain Massachusetts borrowers…
On May 27, 2021, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced that it had reached a settlement with a subprime auto lender resolving alleged violations of the state’s unfair and deceptive acts and practices law. The Massachusetts AG alleged that the auto lender, in connection with its purchase of auto retail installment sales contracts from…
On May 11, 2021, in a 52-47 vote, the United States Senate passed a Congressional Review Act resolution to revoke the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) True Lender Rule. The Congressional Review Act, passed in 1996, permits Congress to pass a joint resolution of disapproval that, with…
On May 27, 2021 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had reached a settlement with a Florida-based payday lender and its CEO to resolve a 2020 lawsuit alleging violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. § 5564. In 2020, and as previously covered by Enforcement Watch, the CFPB filed its complaint against…
On May 21, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order and stipulation with a California-based company that services subprime auto loans originated by car dealers. According to the consent order and stipulation, the CFPB found that the company engaged in unfair acts or practices by charging interest on late payments related to loss damage waiver fees,…
On May 17, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with several student loan debt relief companies and their respective owners. The settlement stems from a complaint filed in 2019, in which the FTC alleged the companies charged illegal upfront fees and led consumers to believe the fees were going towards consumers’ student loans in violation of Sections…