On February 3, 2023, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted Defendants Townstone Financial, Inc., a mortgage broker/lender, and Barry Sturner’s, Townstone’s owner, motion to dismiss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB or Bureau) redlining complaint brought under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), ECOA’s…
On February 2, 2023, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (Massachusetts AG) announced that it had entered into a settlement with an auto dealer to resolve allegations that the company engaged in illegal auto loan collection practices in violation of the state’s consumer protection laws. Specifically, the Massachusetts AG alleges that…
On December 23, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) moved for dismissal, or in the alternative partial summary judgment, of the complaint filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in September 2022 in the Eastern District of Texas that challenges the CFPB’s update to the Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive…
On January 11, 2023 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a rule (“Proposed Rule”) that would require “most nonbanks subject to the Bureau’s supervisory authority” to “register annually in [a] system” that is created and operated by the CFPB when their form contracts “use certain terms or conditions that…
On December 1, 2022 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had reached a proposed settlement with a Delaware-based financial services company to resolve allegations it made false representations to consumers in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). In the underlying complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern…
On January 4, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and New York State Office of the Attorney General (NY AG) announced a joint enforcement action against one of the country’s largest publicly-traded indirect auto lenders. The 8-count complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York,…
On December 22, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had reached a settlement with an international remittance company to resolve alleged violations of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), 15 U.S.C. § 1693 et seq., and its implementing Regulation E (Reg E), 12 C.F.R. Part 1005, Subpart B…
On December 22, 2022, the Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) announced a settlement with a South Carolina mortgage servicing company to resolve allegations that the company violated state mortgage servicing and debt collection laws. After an investigation, the AG alleged that the servicer did not take “reasonable steps” to help borrowers avoid foreclosures…
On December 12, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) proposed a rule (“Proposed Rule”) that would require non-bank financial institutions to register with the CFPB when they become subject to certain final public orders by a Federal, State, or local government agency in connection with the offering or provision…
On November 15, 2022, less than one month after the Fifth Circuit panel’s decision in Community Fin. Services Assoc. of Am. Ltd., No. 21-50826 (5th Cir. Oct. 19, 2022) and more than two months before its 90-day deadline, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a certiorari petition with the…
On December 20, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a large national bank to resolve alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s (CFPA) prohibition of unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices, 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531 and 5536. According to the…
On November 21, 2022, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released an order concerning “ringless voicemails” and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In this ruling, the FCC confirmed that the delivery of “ringless voicemails” to wireless phones constitute a “call made using an artificial or prerecorded voice” such that it…
On December 14, 2022, the Colorado Attorney General (AG) announced that it entered into a consent order with a California-based debt management company and its sister lending company, resolving the AG’s examination findings that those companies violated Colorado’s Uniform Consumer Credit Code, C.R.S. § 5-1-101, et seq. (“UCCC”) and Debt Management Services Act, C.R.S. § 5-19-201…
On November 2, 2022, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that a group of companies offering lead generation services violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”), 16 C.F.R. Part 310, and Pennsylvania consumer protection law, 73 P.S. §§ 201-3 and 201-4, by engaging in…
On November 18, 2022, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office (Minnesota AG) announced that it entered into a consent order with a California student-loan debt-relief company to resolve allegations that the company illegally collected fees from customers and mispresented its services to consumers. According to the Minnesota AG, the company “falsely promised consumers student-loan…
On November 17, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with a California-based mortgage servicer concerning its purported failure to provide certain borrowers forbearances and protections from credit reporting, as required under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). According to the CFPB, the servicer’s…
On October 19, 2022, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (Fifth Circuit) held that the funding mechanism for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unconstitutional and violates the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution. Community Fin. Services Assoc. of Am. Ltd., No. 21-50826 (5th Cir. Oct. 19, 2022). In light…
In the past few weeks, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Ninth Circuit) has issued significant decisions concerning the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and its application to unwanted text messages sent to cell phones used for both personal and business use, and the constitutionality of…
In September 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a special edition of Supervisory Highlights regarding recent examination findings related to student loan servicing. The Supervisory Highlights focus on three sets of “significant supervisory findings:” (i) blanket policies to withhold transcripts in connection with an extension of credit are abusive…
On October 11, 2022, the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office (NC AG) announced that it had entered into a consent order with certain Texas-based debt collection companies, resolving allegations that those companies engaged in illegal debt collection practices in violation of various state statutes. In 2019, the NC AG filed a lawsuit in North Carolina state court alleging that…