On September 21, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas entered a stipulated order for a permanent injunction and civil penalty judgment against the vice president of a debt collector. Following an investigation of the debt collector by the Federal Trade Commission,…
On September 21, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed five individual administrative lawsuits against Arizona title lenders. Each suit concerns allegations that the title lenders’ online advertisements failed to disclose title annual percentage rates, in violation of the Truth in Lending Act. Instead, the Bureau alleged, the companies…
On September 21, 2016, a mortgage lender settled an action brought by the Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks by stipulating to the entry of a consent order to resolve claims of “alleged non-compliance with applicable Massachusetts and federal statutes, rules, and regulations governing the conduct and licensing of those engaged in the…
On September 13, 2016, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a settlement agreement with a bank for allegedly violating the False Claims Act by improperly underwriting and originating of FHA-insured mortgage loans. According to the DOJ, from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2011, the lender was improperly underwriting and certifying that mortgage loans…
On September 12, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced the issuance of a consent order with a for-profit college chain that allegedly deceived its students into taking out loans that were more expensive than advertised. For the last several years, the for-profit education company allegedly had enrolled hundreds of thousands of…
On September 2, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of a civil RICO claim in Ray v. Spirit Airlines, Inc., a case that challenged Spirit Airlines’ reporting of fees to customers. The Eleventh Circuit’s affirmance focused on the plaintiffs’ failure to allege the hidden fees were the proximate cause of…
*Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on our sister blog, Consumer Finance Enforcement Watch. Visit CFEW for more real-time reporting on the full range of public federal and state consumer finance enforcement activity.* Goodwin’s Mike Whalen, a partner in the Technology Group and co-leader of the Fintech practice; and Levi Swank, an…
Goodwin’s Mike Whalen, a partner in the Technology Group and co-leader of the Fintech practice; and Levi Swank, an associate in the Financial Industry and Consumer Financial Services Litigation practices, were published in the September 2016 issue of Mortgage Banking for their article, Servicing Remains An Enforcement Target. The article…
On September 7, 2016, the Massachusetts Attorney General announced a settlement with an insurance company requiring “refunds for Massachusetts homeowners whose mortgage lenders wrongly force-placed the consumers with [the insurance company] despite the fact that the consumers already had home insurance with other companies, as well as consumers who were…
On September 8, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that, pursuant to a Consent Order, a national bank agreed to make full restitution to consumers and pay the CFPB a $100 million fine because many of its employees allegedly engaged in an illegal practice of opening unauthorized deposit and credit…
On August 31, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) obtained summary judgment against a California-based online payday lender, its individual owner, its subsidiary, and a servicer of its loans, which allegedly used a “rent-a-tribe” scheme to avoid state usury and licensing laws in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act. According to the…
On September 7, 2016, the Massachusetts Attorney General (“AG”) announced that it reached a settlement with a Massachusetts force-placed insurance company relating to allegations that it improperly charged homeowners for insurance. According to the Massachusetts AG, mortgage lenders improperly provided homeowners with duplicative force-placed insurance policies through the subject insurance…
On August 29, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a Northern District of Georgia decision invalidating an arbitration clause in Jessica Parm v. National Bank of California, N.A. (Docket No. 15-12509). Defendant National Bank of California (National Bank) argued that plaintiff Jessica Parm’s (Parm) payday loan contract compelled her to arbitrate…
On September 1, 2016, the Massachusetts Attorney General (“AG”) announced a settlement with a student loan debt relief company, over allegations the company charged illegal fees to enroll borrowers in income-based repayment plans and other loan modification services. The company allegedly offered “debt relief” services to borrowers, which included assisting borrowers…
On September 1, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it entered into a stipulated order for permanent injunction against a group of regional law firms over allegations the firms violated the Federal Trade Commission Act by providing illegal mortgage modification services. According to the FTC, the firms charged illegal…
On August 31, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its Monthly Complaint Report for August 2016, this month focusing on complaints concerning bank accounts and related services. The report, which compiles data from the CFPB’s complaint database to compare consumer complaints by subject, geography, and company on a…
On August 23, 2016, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the filing of a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against several California-based mortgage loan modification service providers. The complaint alleges that defendants violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)…
On August 24, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that the FTC and the Attorney General for the State of New York (New York AG) reached a settlement with a New York debt collector that will ban the owner and his companies from the debt collection business. The action was part…
On August 25, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced an order against a national bank that will require the bank to pay $32.25 million in consumer relief and civil penalties based on practices relating to credit card add-on products. These practices allegedly violated sections 1031 and 1036(a)(1)(B) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act…
On August 25, 2016, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that it had agreed to consent orders with a national bank based on its alleged unfair billing practices. The civil money penalty order will require that the bank pay a $3 million civil money penalty. The cease and desist…