On July 1, 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James (“New York AG”) announced that together with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the agencies had entered into a settlement with a debt collection company, a related entity, and corporate officers to resolve a case filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of New…
On June 21, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against affiliated companies offering services to repair consumers’ damaged credit. The FTC’s Complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, alleged that the companies used deceptive marketing campaigns that promised to eliminate derogatory credit from consumers’ credit reports and raise…
On May 30, 2019, the Fourth Circuit upheld a $61 million Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) judgment in Krakauer v. Dish Network, L.L.C., No. 1518. The plaintiff, Dr. Thomas Krakauer (Plaintiff), placed his name on the Do-Not-Call registry in 2003. In 2009, he received calls from Satellite Systems Network (SSN),…
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 13, 2019, petitioner Kevin Rotkiske submitted his brief to the United States Supreme Court in Rotkiske v. Klemm, No 18-328. As noted in a previous post, the Court accepted Rotkiske’s appeal back in February to resolve a circuit split between the Third Circuit and the Ninth and Fourth…
On June 14, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a settlement with a private student loan provider that issued and managed student loans at the now-defunct for-profit ITT Technical Institute. Forty-five states including Kansas, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Oregon, and New York also settled with the loan…
On June 13, 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it filed a complaint and settlement agreement in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana resolving allegations against a Midwestern bank based in Indiana. The DOJ alleged that the bank engaged in lending discrimination through “redlining,” or intentionally avoiding providing services in predominantly…
On June 5, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it has reached a settlement with one of the nation’s ten largest Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reporters, a for-profit mortgage lender based in New Jersey. The consent order resolves alleged violations of the HMDA, 12 U.S.C. §§ 2801–2810, and its implementing regulation,…
On May 7, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (Notice) to implement the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The Bureau’s stated purpose for the proposed rules, which would be placed in the existing Regulation F, is to “set clear,…
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…
On May 21, 2019, the North Carolina Attorney General’s office (AG) announced that it had obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) as a result of a consent agreement with a Florida-based online lender in a lawsuit it filed in North Carolina state court on May 15, 2019. The AG alleged that the online lender, which was not licensed in North…
On May 6, 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in CFPB v. Seila Law LLC, No. 7-56324. Seila Law LLC is a law firm that provides debt-relief services to consumers. The CFPB filed a petition to force Seila Law to…
On April 28, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied certification of a putative Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class. Revitch v. Citibank, NA., No. 14-06907 WHA (N.D. Cal. Apr. 28, 2019). The court reasoned that the case would involve “individualized inquires [of prior express…
On May 1, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a $3.9 million settlement with a student loan servicer, resolving allegations that the servicer engaged in unfair acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The parties’ consent order resolves allegations that the servicer failed to timely…
On May 2, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed suit in the District of Utah against defendants operating two of the largest credit repair companies in the country, alleging that the companies engaged in deceptive acts and practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) and Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR)….
On April 5, 2019, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision holding that a plaintiff asserted a plausible claim under a provision of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) that forbids debt collectors from using “false, deceptive, or misleading representation[s] or means in connection with the collection…
On April 16, 2019, the Maryland Attorney General (“Maryland AG”), in cooperation with Maryland’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Regulation, announced it had reached a settlement with a Michigan reverse mortgage servicer resolving allegations that the company charged homeowners for home inspection fees in violation of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act, Md. Code…
On March 20, 2019, in the case of Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) does not apply to entities that conduct non-judicial foreclosure sales. In so holding, the Court zeroed in on the FDCPA’s definition of “debt collector,”…
On April 15, 2019, the FTC announced that it had reached a settlement with an online lending company for $3.85 million, resolving allegations that the company had engaged in unfair and deceptive loan servicing practices in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. § 45, the Telemarketing Sales…
On April 11, 2019, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced that the AG’s Consumer Protection Division had filed charges against affiliated businesses and their owner (defendants) alleging that they had made unlicensed and usurious consumer loans in the form of “title loans” or “title pawns” secured by Maryland consumers’…