On February 22, the Fourth Circuit clarified in a published opinion what communications constitute a qualified written request (QWR) under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). The Fourth Circuit held that “where a written correspondence to a loan servicer provides sufficient information to identify the account and an alleged servicing error, such correspondence is
2020 was a transformative year for the consumer financial services world. As we navigate an unprecedented volume of industry regulation, Troutman Pepper is uniquely positioned to help its clients find successful resolutions and stay ahead of the compliance curve.
In this report, we share developments in 2020 on consumer class actions, background screening, bankruptcy,
In late August, the California legislature passed Assembly Bill 1864, creating a Department of Financial Protection and Innovation and bolstering legal protections for consumers.
The new Department is intended to be a state-level version of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
For example, similar to the CFPB, the commissioner of the Department is authorized
In the recent case Stepp v. U.S. Bank Trust, N.A., the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit narrowed the applicability of 24 C.F.R. § 203.604, a federal regulation that requires a face-to-face meeting prior to foreclosure for certain mortgage loans insured by the Fair Housing Act.
The contested regulation, issued
In a published opinion that should be advantageous to foreclosing parties, the Supreme Court of Virginia found that if a borrower cannot plead that he or she could have cured a mortgage loan default, then a foreclosure sale is “inevitable” and alleged defects in a notice of default cannot support a claim for rescission of
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), a $2 trillion stimulus bill enacted in response to the ongoing coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, contains numerous provisions impacting federal student loans for the next six months. Considering how the amount of outstanding student loan debt is in excess of $1.5 billion, and much of that
In a recent ruling favorable to lenders and mortgage loan servicers, the Fifth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals held that minor, inconsequential discrepancies in a pre-foreclosure notice of default (also sometimes called a “cure notice” or “pre-acceleration notice”) are insufficient grounds for setting aside a foreclosure sale in Texas.
Borrower-plaintiff Guilherme Casalicchio’s
This month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Education entered into a Memorandum of Understanding intended to enhance their level of collaboration with respect to complaints and concerns raised by student loan consumers.
The agreement provides that the two federal agencies will, to the extent permitted by privacy laws, share consumer complaint
A New York bankruptcy court recently allowed a pro se debtor to discharge over $200,000 in student loan debt, vehemently rejecting as “punitive” more recent legal authority concerning how student loan debts may be discharged in bankruptcy.
Debtor Kevin Jared Rosenberg, a New York law school graduate earning approximately $37,000 annually, filed for Chapter 7
In August 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a Civil Investigative Demand (“CID”) to Libre by Nexus, Inc. and Nexus Services, Inc. (collectively, “Nexus”) seeking documents and information to investigate whether the companies were engaging in any unfair or deceptive business practices prohibited by the Consumer Financial