In December 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a rule to update regulatory exemptions of overdraft loans from lending laws. According to the Bureau, this is a major step in the CFPB’s efforts to curb junk fees. Per the CFPB, for decades, overdraft loans have not only added…
On December 23, 2024, The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced a consent order with a crypto lending platform (the Company) that provides financial services to retail and institutional customers to resolve the Department’s investigation into the Company’s lending program. The DFPI alleged that the Company breached the California…
In December 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) rolled out a series of important measures aimed at addressing potential misconduct in the credit card industry, improving consumer protections, and promoting transparency and competition in the market. The Bureau’s initiatives come at a time when credit card usage is peaking…
On December 17, 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) entered into a consent agreement with a Utah-based bank, resolving allegations that the Bank engaged in deceptive acts and unfair practices in or affecting commerce, in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Specifically, the FDIC alleged that the…
On December 9, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it received a temporary restraining order against a student loan servicer over allegations the servicer and its operator misled consumers into thinking they were receiving student debt relief and forgiveness. According to the FTC’s complaint, the Nevada-based servicer and its operator made telemarking calls and…
On December 6, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed suit against a bank subsidiary of a financial services company for allegedly disconnecting customer service calls, charging illegal ATM fees, misleading fraud victims, imposing illegal terms of service on consumers seeking to stop payments, failing to investigate account…
On December 5, 2024, the CFPB announced that it had entered into a proposed stipulated final judgment and order with a student lender and its investors, resolving allegations that the student lender had violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), and Regulation Z through deceptive advertising and disclosures. In…
On December 4, 2024, the CFPB announced that it entered into a proposed stipulated judgment with a student loan servicer and its owner, resolving allegations that the student loan servicer violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). According to the judgment, the servicer at issue and its owner illegally…
On Tuesday, November 26, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office (AG) announced it filed a consent order to resolve allegations that online lenders were charging interest on loans in excess of the amounts prescribed under Minnesota usury laws. Under the consent order, over $1 million in allegedly illegal loans were discharged….
On October 17, 2024, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed an action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against an online lender of student loans, its wholly-owned subsidiaries, and the owners and operators of those entities (collectively, the Company)…
On November 19, 2024, the District of Columbia’s Attorney General (DC AG) announced that it had filed a complaint in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia against an online lender for alleged violations of the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA). According to the DC AG’s complaint, the company, which operates both a website and…
On November 7, 2024, the CFPB announced that it had entered into a consent order with a major credit union resolving allegations that the credit union improperly assessed overdraft fees against consumers. The credit union agreed to pay nearly $95 million to resolve the allegations. In its consent order, the CFPB alleged that…
On November 7, 2024, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with a cryptocurrency lender resolving allegations that the lender violated the California Financing Law (“CFL”). This action follows an examination by the DFPI in which the Department found that the crypto lender violated the CFL by (1) failing to consider…
On November 5, 2024, the FTC announced that it had filed suit against a California-based online cash advance provider for allegedly deceptive and misleading advertisements and representations, in violation of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (“ROSCA”), 15 U.S.C. § 8403.z According to…
On November 4, 2024, the FTC announced that it had filed suit against a Georgia-based debt collector for engaging in allegedly deceptive and abusive debt collection practices, in violation of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), the FDCPA, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692-1692p, and its associated Regulation F, 12 C.F.R. Part 1006, and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley…
On November 4, 2024, the Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks (the “Commissioner”) entered into a consent order with a licensed motor vehicle sales finance company (the “Company”) in relation to its retail installment contracts and their level of compliance with relevant Massachusetts and federal statutes. An examination carried out by the Commissioner regarding the Company and…
On October 28, 2024, the Ninth Circuit struck a mass arbitration agreement as unconscionable and unenforceable under California law in Heckman v. Live Nation Ent., Inc., No. 23-55770. The three-judge panel affirmed the district court’s decision holding that the arbitration agreement’s delegation clause was unconscionable under California law. The panel…
On October 31, 2024, the CFPB announced that it had entered into a consent order with a credit union, resolving allegations that the union had ineffectively rolled out a new online banking platform that left consumers without adequate access to basic banking functions, and thereby inflicted financial harm. In May 2022, the credit union attempted to launch…
On October 23, 2024, the CFPB announced that it had entered into separate consent orders with a large tech company and a bank over a joint credit card venture. The CFPB alleges that the credit card, which combined the tech company’s software with the credit-backing of the bank, was launched prematurely, which…
On October 21, 2024, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that his office reached a settlement with two debt settlement companies to resolve allegations that the companies misrepresented their services and collected fees in exchange for promises of settling consumers’ debts before actually performing the promised services, in violation of state law Minn. Stat. §…