Thomas Burke

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Last month, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Early Warning Services, LLC (EWS), the company that operates the Zelle Network, for allegedly failing to protect its users from fraud. The complaint, much of which was filed under seal, claims that EWS harmed consumers by creating “a payment network that was highly susceptible to fraudulent activity, that lacked the basic network safeguards, and that exposed millions of consumers to widespread fraud.”… Continue Reading

On February 18, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit—following up on its August 2024 unsigned order—resolved an expedited appeal concerning a district court injunction preventing the U.S. Department of Education from proceeding with implementation of its much-debated SAVE repayment plan. The opinion, which affirms the district court, calls into question the legality of not only the SAVE plan itself, but also existing income-contingent repayment (“ICR”) plans such as PAYE and REPAYE.… Continue Reading

The CFPB and the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts—a group of fifteen securitization trusts that acquire, pool, and securitize student loans—have entered into a proposed final consent judgment that, if approved, would resolve  the CFPB’s allegations that the Trusts unlawfully filed defective debt collection lawsuits to collect on private student loans.… Continue Reading

In an unsigned order dated August 9, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit signaled its frustration with the U.S. Department’s ongoing efforts to proceed with implementation of its much-debated SAVE repayment plan notwithstanding an earlier partial injunction entered by a federal district court.

In a case filed by Republican state officials (the “States”), a federal judge in Missouri had previously concluded that the States were likely to prevail on their claim that the Department of Education exceeded its authority in creating the SAVE plan, and that the prospect of irreparable harm warranted an injunction prohibiting the Department from forgiving loans under the SAVE plan while the case was litigated.… Continue Reading

Two federal judges recently said that the Education Department lacked the power to reduce or cancel federal student loans under the SAVE program; an appeals court subsequently lifted the injunction in one case.

In cases filed by Republican state officials, federal judges in Kansas and Missouri, both Democratic appointees, issued injunctions, saying that Congress had not given the Department of Education the power to reduce and cancel those loans as it had planned to do under the SAVE program.… Continue Reading

On February 20, 2024, Director Samuel Levine of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection (Bureau) issued a statement promoting the use and acceptance of tolling agreements. Tolling agreements pause the running of statutes of limitations, permitting enforcement agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to file an enforcement action against a party after the deadline otherwise established by the applicable statute.… Continue Reading

In a blog post published earlier this week titled “The CFPB’s enforcement work in 2023 and what lies ahead,” the CFPB discussed its 2023 enforcement activity and highlighted its plans to expand its enforcement capacity in 2024.

The CFPB indicated that in 2023, it filed 29 enforcement actions and resolved through final orders 6 previously-filed lawsuits.  … Continue Reading

The CFPB recently announced the settlement of a bankruptcy court adversary proceeding filed jointly with the Attorneys General of 11 states against Prehired, LLC (Prehired) and two affiliated companies (Prehired Affiliates) for alleged violations of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) in connection with a vocational training program operated by Prehired and related Income Share Agreements (ISAs) offered by Prehired to students to finance the cost of the program. … Continue Reading

The White House signaled last week that, with the resumption of federal student loan payments, federal student loan servicers can expect to face increased scrutiny. The Department of Education issued a “Framework for Student Loan Servicer Oversight and Accountability to Protect Borrowers” and indicated that “[t]he framework’s strategies help the Department to encourage servicers to better support borrowers and allows the Department to hold their feet to the fire when they have servicing failures.”… Continue Reading

Less than six weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court held that President Biden lacked authority to advance his signature effort to forgive upwards of $430 billion in federal student loans, a new challenge has been filed to other major elements of his higher-education agenda.  On August 4, 2023, the Cato Institute and Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed suit in the Eastern District of Michigan, alleging that the U.S.… Continue Reading