Last week, the Central District of California granted summary judgment in a TCPA case involving a single prerecorded call from the plaintiff’s medical insurance company. In Smith v. Blue Shield of California, the plaintiff alleged that her medical insurance provider violated the TCPA by placing a prerecorded call to her…
On January 19, 2017, the CFPB announced it filed a suit against a Minnesota bank, alleging the bank deceived consumers into purchasing overdraft services. The CFPB alleged that the bank, which operates throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, Arizona, and South Dakota, made it seem mandatory to purchase overdraft protection…
On January 13, 2017, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against a Minnesota bank, stemming from allegations that the bank engaged in illegal “redlining” of minority neighborhoods in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The DOJ alleged in its complaint that the bank violated the Fair…
On January 18, 2017, the Attorney General (AG) of Washington announced that it filed a lawsuit against the nation’s largest student loan servicer and related entities alleging deceptive lending, servicing, and debt collection practices. According the AG’s Complaint, filed in King County, Washington Superior Court, the servicer engaged in a…
On January 12, 2017, the Florida Attorney General’s Office (Florida AG) announced that it and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (Florida OFR) had entered into coordinated settlements with an online payday lender and its affiliated entities. The payday lender was accused of charging interest rates prohibited by Florida law. This…
On January 3, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California certified for appellate review its August 31, 2016 Order finding that a California-based payday lending company used a “rent-a-tribe” scheme to avoid state usury laws, in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). Enforcement Watch covered the August 31,…
On January 11, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had agreed to two stipulated orders (available here and here) with individuals who participated in an alleged fraudulent mortgage relief scheme. According to the FTC, the individuals promised consumers “at least $75,000” or complete relief on their mortgages through a “mass joinder lawsuit.” The…
On January 9, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with two affiliated medical debt collection law firms over allegations that the law firms used deceptive collection letters and illegally notarized collection affidavits. The consent order alleges that the law firms would send debtors collection…
On January 9, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas against one individual and affiliated companies, alleging that they sold portfolios of nonexistent payday loans to debt collectors. The complaint alleges that the companies fabricated lenders and loan…
On December 21, 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that it was fining 12 firms a total of $14.4 million for failing to comply with FINRA cybersecurity regulations, having identified “significant deficiencies relating to the preservation of broker-dealer and customer records in a format that prevents alteration.” FINRA…
On January 3, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into two consent orders, available here and here, with two national credit reporting agencies over allegations that the agencies violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act by misrepresenting how lenders use certain credit scores that the agencies…
On December 16, 2016, the fair lending team at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced the markets that it would closely monitor in 2017. These new monitoring priorities are part of the general priority goals announced by the CFPB in 2016, which included: 1) regulating the use of arbitration clauses; 2) addressing…
On January 4, 2017, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office (“Iowa AG”) announced that it had entered into an agreement with a company accused of charging high rates of interest on cash advances from pension accounts. According to the Iowa AG, the company charged up to 200 percent interest for cash…
On December 21, 2016, the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), sent a pointed letter to President-elect Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin. The letter is an attempt to gain an understanding of Mr. Mnuchin’s views on topics over which…
On December 28, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $48 million settlement with a national mortgage lender, resolving allegations that the lender violated the False Claims Act by underwriting and endorsing Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans that failed to comply with FHA underwriting guidelines. The settlement was the result of an…
On December 28, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it filed a complaint against, and entered a consent order with, two Ohio-based banks, resolving allegations that the banks had violated the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act by engaging in discriminatory lending. The DOJ alleged that, from at…
On December 13, 2016, the Ninth Circuit heard oral argument in Robins v. Spokeo (No. 11-56843) on remand from the Supreme Court. We wrote extensively (here, here, and here) about Spokeo before and after the Supreme Court’s May 16, 2016 decision. As readers may recall, the Central District of California had…
On December 20, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a mid-Atlantic financing company over allegations that the company entered into revolving-credit agreements with consumers without providing adequate disclosures. The consent order alleged that the company violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act…
On December 21, 2016, the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office (“Arkansas AG”) announced that it had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas against a Florida-based credit repair company, stemming from allegations that the company made false and misleading representations to consumers. The Arkansas…
On December 19, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed actions against four separate Virginia-based pawnbrokers for alleged violations of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The nearly identical Complaints allege that the pawnbrokers misled consumers by enticing them…