On October 6, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced an $85 million settlement to resolve claims for civil fraud under the False Claims Act that a bank certified roughly 1,400 mortgage loans as eligible for FHA insurance, when the bank knew that the loans were in fact ineligible and failed…
On October 5, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it reached a settlement with defendants who allegedly operated a debt scamming business by promising consumers debt relief services that they did not deliver. Defendants allegedly disseminated false and misleading information regarding their services through telemarketing, internet ads, and other media. After…
On October 1, 2015, the CFPB announced an enforcement action and consent order with an indirect auto lender for illegal debt collection and other practices. It is alleged that the company’s actions violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Truth in Lending Act, and the Dodd-Frank Act. The illegal…
On September 29, 2015, the CFPB released a report outlining perceived failures in servicing of both private and federal student loans. Some of the issues identified in the report include: servicers not disclosing alternative repayment programs; servicing transfers resulting in processing problems, such as surprise fees and lost repayment benefits; customer service…
Arguably the most pressing topic at this year’s Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Regulatory Compliance Conference (held on September 20-22, 2015 in Washington, D.C.) was the implementation of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) Rule, which will take effect on October 3, 2015. While industry leaders at the conference generally seemed to accept…
On September 28, 2015, the CFPB and DOJ announced a consent order and settlement with a national bank to resolve allegations that the bank’s auto lending practices violated ECOA. The bank allegedly allowed its auto dealer partners to charge a “dealer markup” as high as 2.5 percent above the risk-based interest rate set by the…
On September 28, 2015, the acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York announced the filing of a civil suit against several mortgage lenders and a consumer counseling and relief fund. The suit alleges that the lenders conspired with the counseling fund in an effort to hide their high default…
On September 28, 2015, the CFPB announced that it had entered into a consent order and settlement with a national bank for alleged violations of the Dodd-Frank Act’s UDAAP provision for deceptive acts or practices in the marketing and sales of its “Debt Protection” credit card add-on product. The debt…
On September 29, 2015, the DOJ announced that it had entered into a consent order with a regional bank over allegations that it engaged in redlining practices in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). The bank holds over $900 million in assets and offers traditional deposit accounts, mortgage…
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…