On December 4, 2014, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed suit in Ohio County Circuit Court against a local businessman and his Wheeling, West Virginia businesses, alleging that they violated the Consumer Credit and Protection Act, the Safe Mortgage Licensure Act; and the Mortgage Lender, Broker and Servicer Act. A copy of the complaint…

As we have been reporting since 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s attacks on what it considers discriminatory and subjective dealer pricing of finance rates should be seen as nothing less than an outright attempt to reshape the auto finance industry.  These regulatory actions have continued in earnest through the present, as we’ve discussed…

On Wednesday, December 3, 2014, New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, announced new regulations aimed at “protect[ing] consumers against abusive and deceptive debt collection practices.”  The press release issued by Governor Cuomo can be found here.

These regulations come from the New York Department of Financial Services and were first proposed in July 2013 and…

On November 25, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York denied a plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction barring U.S. Alliance Group (“USAG”) from paying “residual” credit card fee payments to one of its competitors, CardFlex.  In 2008, CardFlex – an independent sales organization that processes credit card transactions –…

The lending arm of Honda Motor Co., America Honda Finance Corp., has just revealed in a recent public filing that the U.S. Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have authorized an enforcement action against the company for violations of law arising out of its indirect lending practices.  Honda stated that the CFPB…

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley recently entered into a Consent Judgment with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc., related to a data breach that affected nearly 4,000 patients and employees.

“The healthcare industry’s increased reliance on technology makes it more important than ever that providers ensure patients’ personal information and protected health information is secure,”…

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced that it will hold a field hearing on medical debt collection in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on December 11 at 11:00 a.m. CST.

According to the CFPB, the hearing will feature remarks from CFPB Director Richard Cordray, as well as testimony from consumer groups, industry representatives, and members of…

On the heels of a $22 million settlement in an enforcement action brought by the Federal Trade Commission, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott recently announced his office’s resolution of an enforcement action against the same group of Dallas-based technology firms that falsely claimed to offer individuals “free” credit scores.  The firms named as defendants were:…

Many consumers have heard of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the statute that prevents a company from autodialing a consumer’s cell phone without his or her prior express consent.  Less well know is the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), a statute that prohibits “video tape service providers” from knowingly disclosing consumers’ personally identifiable information. …

On November 13, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered a California mortgage lender to pay $730,000 for allegedly paying its loan originators compensation based on loan terms.  The CFPB has asked the United States District Court for the Central District of California to approve a consent order requiring the company to end its allegedly illegal…