On December 1, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint and proposed consent order in the District of Massachusetts, resolving alleged Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Equal Credit Opportunity Ac (ECOA) claims against a regional bank. The complaint alleged that from 2011 to at least 2014, the bank engaged in a…
On November 30, the Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) for the immediate discharge of all federal student loans taken out by 7,200 borrowers attending a for-profit college between 2007 and 2015. The AG asserted that the college violated state law and…
On November 24, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it reached a settlement agreement with two Ohio auto dealers relating to allegations that the auto dealers violated Section 184 of the Consumer Leasing Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1667c, and Section 213.7 of Regulation M, 12 C.F.R. § 213.7. Specifically, the FTC’s administrative complaint alleged that the auto dealers failed to disclose key…
On November 24, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (“AG’s Office”) announced that it has reached two separate settlement agreements with student debt relief companies. The two companies agreed to assurances of discontinuance and agreed to pay $56,000 and $40,000 respectively relating to allegations of charging illegal upfront fees prior to delivering full…
On November 24, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System announced the execution of two settlement agreements in enforcement actions against two regional banks concerning alleged violations of the National Flood Insurance Act (“NFIA”), 42 U.S.C. § 4012a(f)(4). The Board of Governors asserted that where a pattern or practice of violations of the NFIA is found, civil money penalties can be…
On November 23, 2015, the Attorney General’s Office for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts reached a settlement agreement with a Massachusetts force-place-insurance company relating to allegations that it required homeowners to purchase unnecessary or overpriced force-placed insurance policies. Force-placed insurance is a form of homeowner’s insurance that may be acquired by a lender or mortgage…
On November 20, 2015, the CFPB published its current rulemaking agenda. Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, the CFPB drafts and implements new regulations governing certain consumer finance products and services. The CFPB publishes its regulatory agenda twice a year, which summarizes the proposed regulations (or “rules”) the Bureau is…
Goodwin Procter Consumer Finance Enforcement associate Kyle Tayman was recently published in Bloomberg BNA’s Banking Report for their article, CFPB’s Question Unanswered—What is ‘Abuse’? The article takes the position that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s silence on what exactly constitutes an ‘‘abusive’’ practice under the Dodd-Frank Act’s provisions governing ‘‘unfair,…
On November 19, 2015, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced that it had reached a settlement with a national mortgage company over allegations the company overcharged customers for mortgage settlement services. The company allegedly charged consumers a $200 settlement service fee in connection with mortgage loans. The fee…
On November 19, 2015, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced that it had ordered a regional mortgage company to pay a $1 million fine and surrender its mortgage license over allegations the firm’s senior managers cheated on continuing education exams. Under New York law, all mortgage originators must…
On November 18, 2015, California’s Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced that a national finance company paid approximately $1 million in restitution to California consumers as part of a prior settlement with the DBO related to company’s lending practices. Enforcement Watch previously covered the settlement, in which the the company agreed to pay $125 per consumer…
On November 16, 2015, the DOJ announced a settlement with a national for-profit education company over alleged violations of the False Claims Act and the Higher Education Act. The settlement resolves four separate qui tam suits filed against the company in federal court. In conjunction with the DOJ announcement, the Attorneys General…
On October 27, 2015, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the indictment of fifteen individuals in connection with a nationwide debt collection operation. The Defendants operated a large debt collection company that allegedly collected debts from consumers who had defaulted on payday loans…
From origination through final payoff, plaintiffs’ counsel look for claims in just about every aspect of the relationship between borrowers and their mortgage lenders. Recently, scrutiny has turned to property inspections carried out during default servicing. Plaintiffs’ lawyers have filed several class-action suits alleging that inspection fees violate mortgage terms, state…
On November 18, 2015, the CFPB announced that it had initiated an enforcement action against an online finance company. The company offered personal loans in amounts ranging from $100 to $1,000, which consumers applied for using an online application on the company’s website. When consumers applied for the loans, the…
The District Court for the District of Columbia recently ruled that a company challenging a CFPB Civil Investigative Demand (“CID”) has the right to maintain its anonymity. John Doe Company No. 1 v. CFPB, No. 1:15-cv-1177 (D.D.C. Oct. 16, 2015). After receiving a CID from the CFPB, the John Doe Company…
On Friday, November 13, LenderLaw Watch celebrated its first birthday! On behalf of our bloggers and all of us at Goodwin Procter‘s Consumer Financial Services Litigation Practice, we want to mark the happy occasion by saying thank you to our readers! We look forward to another year of trend tracking…
On November 4, 2015, the Tennessee Attorney General announced a settlement with a credit card transaction processor over allegations that the company violated state consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the cancellation policy and duration of its credit card processing equipment leases, as well the compatibility of its equipment. As part of the…
On November 10, 2015, the Washington Attorney General announced it received a judgment in Washington Superior Court against a student loan debt adjustment company for allegedly overcharging students and collecting unlawful fees. The judgment comes approximately three months after summary judgment was entered in favor of the Attorney General, as was reported by…
On November 5, 2015 the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office announced that a national auto loan company agreed to pay $5.4 million in restitution to Massachusetts consumers to settle allegations it charged excessive interest rates on automobile loans. According to the Massachusetts AG, the company purchased loans from primary creditors that contained…