A new (and perhaps final) chapter was added to the tale of ITT Educational Services, Inc. last week with the CFPB’s announcement that it had settled the lawsuit it filed against Student CU Connect CUSO, LLC (CU Connect), a...more
6/20/2019
/ Abusive Acts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Interest Rates ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Private Student Loans ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Special Purpose Entities ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
The U.S. Department of Justice announced last Thursday that it had reached an agreement with First Merchants Bank, an Indiana state-chartered bank, to settle the redlining lawsuit that the DOJ filed against the bank on June...more
6/19/2019
/ Banks ,
Community Reinvestment Act ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Services Industry ,
HELOC ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redlining ,
Settlement Agreements
At the end of last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that they have entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) “to provide mutual assistance in the oversight and...more
12/18/2018
/ Advertising ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Veterans Affairs ,
Educational Institutions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Student Enrollment ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Veterans
Virginia’s Attorney General has announced that “he has secured more than $50 million in debt relief and ordered civil penalties” as a result of his lawsuit filed in state court in March 2018 against Future Income Payments...more
The Department of Justice recently entered into a settlement with Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union to resolve allegations that it violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by repossessing vehicles owned by...more
The New York Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against a group of commonly owned and managed companies headquartered in New York that include companies operating retail jewelry stores in numerous states under the name...more
11/1/2018
/ Charitable Sales Promotion ,
Consumer Fraud ,
Credit Financing ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Advertising ,
Interest Rates ,
Markups ,
Military Service Members ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Retailers ,
State Attorneys General ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Usury
After a four-day trial, the Ohio federal district court hearing the CFPB’s lawsuit against a law firm, Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., L.P.A., found that the CFPB had failed to prove its FDCPA and CFPA claims by a preponderance...more
The CFPB announced that it has entered into a consent order with Security Group Inc. and its subsidiaries (Security Group) to settle an administrative enforcement action that charged the companies with having engaged in...more
6/15/2018
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Credit Reports ,
Debt Collection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Popular ,
UDAAP ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
The U.S. Department of Justice announced earlier this week that it has reached an agreement with KleinBank, a state-chartered Minnesota bank, to settle the redlining lawsuit that the DOJ filed against the bank in January...more
5/10/2018
/ Community Reinvestment Act ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redlining ,
Settlement Agreements
The CFPB has issued its seventh annual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act report covering the CFPB’s and FTC’s activities in 2017.
The CFPB’s previous FDCPA annual reports began with a message from former Director Cordray....more
The FTC has filed a lawsuit in a California federal district court against three interrelated student loan debt relief companies and the individual who is their majority owner for alleged violations of Section 5 of the FTC...more
2/9/2018
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt Relief ,
Debt-Relief Industry ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FTC Act ,
Injunctions ,
Redress Payments ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Section 5 ,
Student Loans ,
Telemarketing Sales Rule
A New York federal district court dismissed the counterclaims of the defendants in a CFPB enforcement action claiming that, pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), they were entitled to fees and expenses incurred....more
Last Friday, as expected, the FTC announced the launch of a coordinated federal-state law enforcement initiative targeting deceptive student loan debt relief companies. ...more
A recent flurry of FTC enforcement activity targeting companies offering student loan debt relief services suggests such companies could be the subject of the announcement scheduled for tomorrow “of a major coordinated...more
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has issued its annual report to Congress regarding its activities to enforce the ECOA, FHA and SCRA. The report covers 2016 activities that would have taken place under the...more
9/28/2017
/ Annual Reports ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discrimination ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fair Lending ,
HUD ,
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)
The CFPB has issued a new compliance bulletin (2017-11) to provide guidance on pay-by-phone fees. The guidance includes examples of conduct relating to pay-by-phone practices identified by the CFPB in its supervision and...more
A group of Democratic Senators have introduced a bill, the “Military Consumer Protection Act” (S. 1565), that would amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) to include various sections of the Servicemembers Civil...more
One of the hallmarks of the CFPB’s enforcement actions has been its use of those actions to announce new legal standards. Navient attacks this enforcement strategy in its motion to dismiss a recent case brought against it by...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced its first data security enforcement action. Since the 1990s, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has primarily taken on the role as the de facto federal regulator...more
Director Cordray is reported to have defended the CFPB’s authority to investigate a college accrediting organization at a recent Politico event. On October 8, 2015, the CFPB issued a decision and order denying the petition of...more
11/6/2015
/ Accreditation ,
Bank Service Providers ,
CID ,
Colleges ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Education ,
Educational Institutions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
The CFPB released its fourth Annual Report of the Student Loan Ombudsman discussing complaints received by the CFPB about private and federal student loans and the lessons drawn by the Ombudsman from those complaints. (The...more
10/16/2015
/ Consumer Complaint Management ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Debt Collection ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Student Loans ,
Financial Institutions ,
GAO ,
Loans ,
Private Student Loans ,
Student Loans
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Florida Attorney General (AG) have jointly filed a complaint in a Florida federal court against several companies and their individual owners alleging that the defendants engaged in...more
7/3/2015
/ Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Debt-Relief Industry ,
Elder Abuse ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDUTPA ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Abuse ,
Financial Institutions ,
FTC Act ,
Nonbank Firms ,
Telemarketing
The Washington State Attorney General recently filed an action in state court against a student loan debt adjustment firm and its individual principal alleging that the firm charged illegal fees and failed to provide required...more
The New York Attorney General and Federal Trade Commission recently announced they had filed two joint federal court lawsuits against debt collectors in the Western District of New York. The Attorney General and FTC are...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced an enforcement action against TRUSTe, a provider of privacy certifications for online businesses. The settlement resolves allegations that TRUSTe deceived consumers about...more