On April 18, 2017, the United States Supreme Court, once again with nine justices sitting on the bench, heard oral arguments in Henson v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., No. 16-349, concerning the scope of the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1692 –1692p. As previously…
On April 13, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued proposed amendments to clarify certain requirements of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). HMDA requires that financial institutions collect and report certain information regarding their mortgage lending activities. The information that financial institutions are required to collect and report includes…
On April 20, 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO) announced that the president and chief executive officer of a Buffalo-based debt collection company was sentenced to 100 months in prison for engaging in illegal and abusive debt collection practices. According to the USAO, the defendant…
On April 19, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it had entered an agreement with a group of California mortgage lenders to resolve allegations that they discriminated against a mortgage applicant. That consumer had filed a complaint with HUD in October 2016, alleging that the lenders failed to prequalify…
On April 20, 2017, the Massachusetts Division of Banks (DOB) issued Findings of Fact and a Temporary Order to Cease and Desist against a loan servicing company, alleging that the company engaged in residential mortgage loan servicing practices that violate state and federal laws, and failed to meet the requirements…
On April 17, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against an Ohio-based debt collection law firm, alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The…
On April 12, 2017, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced that it had reached a settlement with a mortgage broker, its employee, and an insurance agent, resolving allegations that they had preyed on elderly consumers by causing them to take out reverse mortgages on their homes. The AG alleged that the broker and agent induced elderly…
On April 10, 2017, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a Michigan-based residential mortgage lender and servicer over allegations that the firm was overcharging consumers for interest on a number of loans. The DBO brought an enforcement action against the…
On April 5, 2017, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office (“Colorado AG”) announced that it had secured a judgment against a debt collection agency and two of its principals. The Colorado AG had accused the company of operating without a license and of deceptive collection practices. According to the Colorado AG, the company…
On March 30, 2017, Judge Karas of the Southern District of New York dismissed multiple claims in a putative nationwide class action challenging default servicing activities. In the case, Tardibuono-Quigley v. HSBC Mortgage Corp., the plaintiff sued her lender (HSBC) and mortgage servicer (PHH) to contest charges she claimed were wrongly…
On April 14, 2017, the District of Columbia Attorney General’s Office (AG) announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with a California-based debt collection company and its owner arising from allegations that their debt collection practices violated the District of Columbia’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act and Debt Collection Law. The…
On March 31, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it had agreed to settle charges with a prepaid debit card provider for $53 million in monetary relief applied to balances and fees in customers’ accounts. According to the complaint brought by the FTC in the Northern District of Georgia, the company was alleged to…
On March 29, 2017, the Massachusetts and Delaware Attorney Generals (“AGs”) announced settlements with a national bank, resolving allegations that the bank originated unfair and usurious automobile loans in violation of Massachusetts and Delaware consumer protection law. According to the AGs, the bank originated subprime loans to more than 2,000 Massachusetts and Delaware…
On March 28, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released Volume 21 of its Monthly Complaint Report (the “Report”). The purpose of the Report is, in part, to educate consumers and financial institutions on major consumer issues—which it does by providing a high-level analysis of trends in consumer complaints, focusing on one or two…
The five-year anniversary of some of the major financial regulations passed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is coming up in January 2018, meaning that they will soon undergo a review to check on their effectiveness. The Dodd-Frank Act requires the CFPB to review its rules five years after their effective date to…
On March 24, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it entered into a consent order with a debt collection company, resolving allegations that the company engaged in unfair and abusive debt collection practices in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692-1692p, and section 5 of…
On March 27, 2017, the North Carolina Attorney General (“AG”) announced that it had settled a lawsuit filed in the Wake County, North Carolina Superior Court against a student loan company. As a result of the settlement, the parties filed a consent judgment requiring that the company pay $377,048 in restitution…
On March 23, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a California-based credit reporting agency (CRA) and its subsidiaries, resolving allegations that the CRA deceived consumers by misrepresenting that the credit score reports that it marketed to consumers were used by lenders in determining a consumer’s credit worthiness….
On March 17, 2017, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an amicus brief in PHH Corp. v. CFPB, No. 15-1177 (D.C. Cir.), in which it argued that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) single director structure is unconstitutional and that President Trump should have the power to remove the CFPB’s director…
On March 24, 2017, the Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks (“Commissioner”) entered into a consent order with a licensed motor vehicle sales finance company, agreeing to refrain from further violations of Massachusetts state law governing the conduct of motor vehicle sales financing. The consent order came after the Commissioner examined the company and subsequently issued a…