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…
On December 16, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order relating to a Seattle-based payday lender and check-cashing company’s allegedly deceptive online advertisements and collection letters. The consent order alleges that the company violated sections 1031(a) and 1036(a)(1)(B) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a), 5536(a)(1)(B),…
On December 16, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Moneytree, Inc., which offers payday loans and other financial services, entered into a consent order that requires Moneytree to pay approximately $255,000 in restitution to consumers and to pay an additional civil money penalty of $250,000. The consent order concerns the CFPB’s allegations that…
On December 17, 2016, the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office (“Arkansas AG”) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against affiliated auto dealerships for violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The Arkansas AG alleged that these auto dealerships would submit loan applications to third-party lenders, who would then deposit…
On December 2, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a status update regarding various initiatives that were proposed in its fall 2016 rulemaking agenda. The update provides readers with an overview of the CFPB’s proposals and observes that comments submitted in connection with a number of the proposals…
On November 23, 2016, the Second Circuit issued its opinion in Strubel v. Comenity Bank, a putative Truth in Lending Act (TILA) class action with both standing and substantive TILA implications. In Strubel, the plaintiff challenged the disclosures Comenity provided in connection with a retail store credit card. The opinion summarizes the plaintiff’s…
On December 7, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into consent orders with three different reverse mortgage companies concerning alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) and Regulation N’s prohibitions on making material misrepresentations as to any “mortgage credit product.” The first consent order…
On December 1, 2016, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the New York Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the unsealing of indictments against five individuals for allegedly participating in a debt-elimination…
On November 23, 2016, Advance America, Inc., a payday lender, and Community Financial Services Association of America, Ltd., a trade organization which represents the interests of payday lenders (Plaintiffs), filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Motion) against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, and the…
On November 30, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Florida Attorney General (AG) announced several settlements totaling approximately $27 million in an alleged fraudulent credit card debt reduction scheme. In a set of stipulated orders, all but one defendant agreed to monetary judgments, as well as bans on future telemarketing, selling debt relief services, and credit…
On November 30, 2016, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas announced that a federal jury in the Southern District of Texas issued a verdict finding several related mortgage companies and their CEO liable in connection with their participation in the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance program. The verdicts were the result of…
On November 30, 2016, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office announced that it had secured a judgment in Colorado state court against affiliated lenders who operated an illegal auto title loan scheme. The companies allegedly used fictitious names in extending credit services, and allegedly charged consumers usurious interest rates for personal…
On November 28, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it issued a compliance bulletin warning regulated financial companies about the use of employee incentive programs in providing their financial products to consumers. The Bureau advised that these types of programs, if run unchecked or with excessive sales goals,…