CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
A federal judge has ordered debt collector, Global Circulation Inc. (GCI) to temporarily halt operations, following an FTC complaint that alleged GCI tricked consumers into paying more than $7.6 million in bogus debt by threatening them with jail time, harassing their family members, and taking other unlawful actions.
U.S. District Judge Eleanor S.… Continue Reading
Following lengthy litigation, the CFPB is attempting to close the books on its case against Townstone Financial alleging discriminatory lending practices and redlining African American neighborhoods in Chicago.
If the proposed order submitted by the CFPB is approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Townstone would be prohibited from taking any actions in connection with offering or providing mortgage loans that violate the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and would be required to pay a $105,000 penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.… Continue Reading
The CFPB recently took action against VyStar Credit Union in connection with allegations that the credit union “botched” its rollout of a new online banking system.
In May 2022, VyStar transitioned to a new online banking platform that the CFPB said was dysfunctional because it made it difficult for credit union members to perform basic banking functions for weeks, with some features unavailable for more than six months.… Continue Reading
On October 11, California’s Office of Administrative Law (“OAL”) approved the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation’s (“DFPI’s”) registration rulemaking for providers of the following products:
The Department of Transportation is allowing Alaska Airlines (“Alaska”) and Hawaiian Airlines (“Hawaiian”) to close their merger—as long as the airlines protect their passenger rewards program against devaluation and ensure that consumers will receive the benefits they have earned.
The airlines will be able to consummate the merger on the condition that they continue to operate separately until the DOT gives final approval to the merger application.… Continue Reading
The CFPB has filed suit against student lender Climb Credit, Inc. and its largest shareholder 1/0 (one zero), alleging that the lender induced students to take out loans by misrepresenting the quality of the training programs at their partner schools and by making false claims about the salaries and employment rates of graduates.… Continue Reading
On October 16, the FTC issued its final amendments to the Negative Option Rule, which now applies to all negative option programs and includes a “click to cancel” provision intended to make it easier for consumers to cancel their enrollment in order to halt continued charges.
“Negative option” is a term used to describe commercial transactions in which an underlying condition or term will continue unless the consumer takes an affirmative action to either cancel the agreement or reject the good or service. … Continue Reading
One of the country’s largest automotive retailers filed suit against the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) on October 4, arguing that the Supreme Court’s recent landmark decision in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy requires that complaints such as the one filed against it be filed in court, and not considered in an administrative proceeding.… Continue Reading
The CFPB, Fed, and OCC have announced that they are increasing exemption thresholds that are subject to annual inflation adjustments. Effective January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025, these exemption thresholds are increased as follows:
The CFPB has banned private dispute resolution platform Ejudicate from arbitrating disputes about consumer financial products, saying that the company had misled student borrowers about the company’s neutrality and initiated sham arbitration proceedings.
The CFPB said that Ejudicate initiated those proceedings on behalf of the company Prehired—a firm which was shut down in 2023 by the CFPB and several state attorneys general, in part on the grounds that its income share agreements were illegal loans and its income share agreement program involved illegal lending practices.… Continue Reading
