On September 24, 2015, the DOJ and HUD announced that the owner and employees of a regional mortgage company had been sentenced for their participation in a $64 million mortgage fraud scheme. According to the DOJ, the Defendants operated a regional mortgage company, which specialized in securing Federal Housing Administration…
On September 24, 2015, the CFPB and the DOJ announced a settlement with a regional bank over allegeatoins that it engaged in redlining practices in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). According to the complaint, the bank allegedly discriminated against minorities by systematically preventing residents of certain minority neighborhoods from…
On September 22, 2015, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office announced two regional payment processing companies each had entered an Assurance of Discontinuance over alleged improper telephone solicitations. The companies allegedly contacted New Hampshire businesses repeatedly, offering credit card payment processing services. The companies also allegedly offered account monitoring and…
On September 23, 2015, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office announced a settlement with a regional automobile title loan company over allegations the company charged illegal interest rates and fees to borrowers. The company operated websites that offered automobile title loans to Vermont consumers. Consumers who were approved for the loans assigned…
On September 22, 2015, the Nevada Attorney General’s Office announced criminal indictments of several individuals relating to a mortgage fraud scheme. The defendants, who owned and operated a regional mortgage company, allegedly promised homeowners they qualified for a federal program known as the “Neighborhood Stabilization Plan.” As alleged in the…
On September 22, 2015, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System announced the execution of a settlement in an enforcement action against a regional bank concerning an alleged violation 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 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently issued a citation to First National Bank Corporation (FNB) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. § 227, for engaging in telemarketing practices with its Apple Pay and online banking services without the “express written consent” of the consumer. As previously covered…
On September 11, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a citation to a national bank for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and FCC rules and regulations. According to the citation, the bank allegedly requires its online banking and Apple Pay customers to consent to receiving autodialed telemarketing…
*Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on our sister blog, Consumer Finance Enforcement Watch. Visit CFEW for more real-time reporting on the full range of public federal and state consumer finance enforcement activity.* For the second quarter of 2015, Consumer Finance Enforcement Watch tracked 56 enforcement actions taken against consumer finance providers,…
For the second quarter of 2015, Consumer Finance Enforcement Watch tracked 56 enforcement actions taken against consumer finance providers, a slight uptick in enforcement activity from the previous quarter’s 46 actions. Although the 56 actions ranged from court-enforcement consent settlement agreements, administrative settlements, administrative actions, civil judgments, and new civil…
David Permut, a partner in Goodwin Procter’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation Practice will be a panelist September 20, 2015 at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Regulatory Compliance Conference in Washington DC. Permut’s panel will be reviewing claims against the mortgage industry, including buybacks and repurchases, claims related to MERS, UDAAPs and claims…
On September 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a final order settling claims against the CEO of a bankrupt debt relief company under the Consumer Financial Protection Act, Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse and Prevention Act, and Telemarketing Sales Rule. The CEO admitted to charging upfront fees for the…
On September 10, the New York Office of the Attorney General (NY AG) announced a settlement with a state bank to resolve claims of discriminatory lending in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and state and local law. The NY AG alleged that the bank engaged in unlawful redlining by failing…
On September 10, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System announced execution of a settlement in an enforcement action against a state member bank in connection with alleged violations of Section 102(f) of the National Flood Insurance Act (NFIA). Where a pattern of practice of violations of the…
On September 9, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into consent orders with two large debt purchasers for alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Consumer Financial Protection Act, and Fair Credit Reporting Act. CFPB alleged that the companies purchased debts that they knew or…
On September 10, Kentucky Attorney General (KY AG) Jack Conway announced a settlement with a for-profit college, resolving claims that the school violated the state Consumer Protection Act. The state alleged that the college violated the statute by denying students financial aid to purchase textbooks at bookstores other than its own; misrepresenting…
A U.S. District Judge in the Northern District of Illinois recently granted summary judgment in favor of defendant PNC Bank on a borrower’s promissory estoppel and Illinois Consumer Fraud Act (ICFA) claims in connection with PNC’s HAMP procedures. In its August 25, 2015 decision the court found that PNC’s actions…
On August 24, 2015, the Third Circuit affirmed the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey’s denial of a motion to dismiss in FTC v. Wyndham Worldwide Corp. In Wyndham, the Federal Trade Commission brought suit against Wyndham in the wake of three cybersecurity attacks that allegedly…
On September 9, the District of Columbia Attorney General announced that it filed a complaint in D.C. Superior Court against a debt-purchasing company, its wholly-owned subsidiary, and their principal, for violations of the District’s debt collection and usury laws. The complaint alleges that the company purchased loans from a company that has since gone out…
On September 8, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) settled with two national banks for alleged violations of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The banks are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the same parent company. The FDIC alleged that the banks engaged in unfair and deceptive practices in connection with…