On December 10, 2018, Kathy Kraninger was sworn in to serve as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for a five-year term. This followed her December 6, 2018 confirmation by the Senate with a vote of 50 to 49. Kraninger succeeds Mick Mulvaney, her former boss at…
On December 12, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $14.5 million settlement of a whistleblower suit alleging False Claims Act violations against a lender who endorsed loans for insurance by the Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”). The settlement resolves an investigation triggered by a qui tam lawsuit filed by a former employee of the…
On December 11, 2018, the Massachusetts Division of Banks (“Division”) entered into a consent agreement with a California small loan company and licensed debt collector to resolve allegations that the company had collected interest in excess of the maximum amount permitted under state law. The consent agreement follows a compliance…
The Southern District of New York is deciding whether a putative class action can proceed beyond the motion to dismiss phase in a lawsuit that may implicate how banks define crypto currency purchases, and how those purchases fit into regulatory frameworks. The case is Brady Tucker, et al. v. Chase Bank…
On December 7, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced settlements with the operators of two Florida-based student loan debt relief companies and their principals in connection with its coordinated federal-state enforcement initiative to target deceptive student loan debt relief scams, called “Operation Game of Loans.” In September and October…
On December 7, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida had entered stipulated orders banning the operators of two Florida-based student loan debt relief providers from the debt relief business, the latest actions from the Operation Game of Loans enforcement initiative targeting…
On December 6, 2018, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (“CFPB”) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a federal savings association headquartered in Bloomington, Ill. According to the consent order, the CFPB alleged that the savings association violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.,…
On December 6, 2018, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (“CFPB”) announced that two days earlier it had filed a complaint and stipulated final judgment and order against a Nevada-based non-bank mortgage company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. The mortgage company allegedly violated the Consumer…
On November 13, 2018, the District of Minnesota rejected the Ninth Circuit’s expansive interpretation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA’s) automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) provision in Marks v. Crunch San Diego, LLC. In Roark v. Credit One Bank, N.A., No. 16-cv-00173 (D. Minn. Nov. 13, 2018), the court…
On December 4, 2018, one of the nation’s largest debt buyers and its subsidiaries reached a settlement with 42 states and the District of Columbia (see, e.g., announcements here and here). The settlement closes the states’ multi-year investigation into the company’s collection and litigation practices, including alleged violations of the…
On November 20, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that a federal court issued an injunction to halt and freeze the assets of a California-based student loan debt relief scheme. Two weeks prior, the FTC filed a complaint against the operators of the scheme, alleging deceptive acts and practices in violation of Section 5(a)…
On November 20, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a settlement with a Texas-based financial services company, resolving allegations that the company violated sections 1031 and 1036 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531, 5536. Specifically, the CFPB alleged that the company engaged in deceptive…
On November 15, 2018, the Virginia Attorney General’s office (“Virginia AG”) announced that it had secured more than $50 million in debt relief and civil penalties as a result of its lawsuit brought under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act against two affiliated loan companies and their owner (the “Defendants”) in…
On November 7, 2018, in the closely-followed case Marks v. Crunch San Diego, LLC, No. 14-56834 (9th Cir.), the Ninth Circuit granted a stay of its ruling on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) definition of an “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS) while appellee Crunch San Diego, LLC files a petition for writ of…
On November 2, 2018, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced a settlement with a New York based credit union, resolving allegations that the credit union had illegally repossessed cars owned by servicemembers on active duty in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3952 (“SCRA”). Under…
On November 1, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the New York Attorney General’s Office announced their lawsuit against a New York-based debt collection operation, which alleges that the debt collection entities tricked people into agreeing to pay more money than what they allegedly owed in violation of Section 13(b) of the…
On Monday, October 29, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it reached a settlement agreement with an online student loan refinancer relating to charges that the company deceptively advertised inflated figures for more than two years, in violation of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45. According to the complaint,…
On October 18, 2018, the Northern District of Georgia declined to extend the Supreme Court’s holding in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., S.F. Cty., 137 U.S. 1773 (2017) to dismiss or to strike the class allegations in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) case. In Dennis v….
During the first half of 2018, Enforcement Watch tracked 40 publicly announced or publicly filed enforcement actions involving consumer financial services companies. The 18 enforcement actions tracked during Q1 2018 represent a substantial decrease from the 46 actions tracked in Q1 2017. That trend continued in Q2 2018, with Enforcement Watch…
On October 24, 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced that it had entered into a Consent Order with a Tennessee-based small dollar lender, resolving allegations that the lender had committed deceptive acts and practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (“CFPA”), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531, 5536(a)(1)(B). The Consent Order…