On February 27, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a mortgage lender, resolving allegations that the lender engaged in “a series of repeat offenses,” including violating a 2015 order prohibiting the lender from engaging in allegedly deceptive advertising. According to the CFPB, the lender sent advertisements to…
On February 23, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with an auto lender based in Georgia. The order resolves allegations that the lender engaged in unfair practices and predatory lending as to military families on auto title loans in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), 12…
Global law firm Goodwin today announced the release of its seventh annual Consumer Finance Year in Review. Produced by the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation and Enforcement + Government Investigations practices, and authored by partners Anthony Alexis, Sabrina Rose-Smith, Kyle Tayman, Levi Swank, Matt Riffee, and Christina Hennecken, the in-depth…
On February 1, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a proposed rule with request for public comment to amend Regulation Z, the implementing regulation of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), to “better ensure that the late fees charged on credit card accounts are ‘reasonable and proportional’ to…
On February 15, 2023, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced that it has issued letters to four entities demanding that they cease and desist from certain statements they made about FDIC deposit insurance. The entities consist of a cryptocurrency exchange, a non-bank financial provider, and two websites. The FDIC alleges that…
On February 14, 2023, the Minnesota Attorney General (AG) announced a settlement with a California-based student-loan debt relief company to resolve allegations that the company operated a fraudulent student loan debt forgiveness scheme. The AG alleged that the company violated Minnesota’s Debt Settlement Services Act, Minn. Stat. §§ 332B.03-.12, the Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act, Minn. Stat. §…
On February 3, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) issued a decision regarding the disclosure requirements of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Prepaid Rule. In PayPal, Inc. v. CFPB, No. 21-5057 (D.C. Cir. 2023) (PayPal), a unanimous panel of the DC…
On February 10, 2023, the Massachusetts Division of Banks (DOB) announced that it entered into a consent order with an online loan servicer headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The order resolves allegations that the company “engaged in the business of a small loan company from at least August 1, 2016 through May 31, 2019 in Masschusetts without the appropriate…
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…