To help you keep abreast of relevant activities, below find a breakdown of some of the biggest events at the federal and state levels to impact the Consumer Finance Services industry this past week:
On May 19, the Massachusetts Division of Banks entered into a consent order with Educational Computer Systems, Inc. (ECSI) to resolve allegations that ECSI was engaging in the business of a third party loan servicer or student loan servicer without the appropriate license. Under the terms of the consent order, ECSI must: 1) pay an
If a financial institution unilaterally reopens a closed deposit account to process a transaction, does that constitute an unfair act or practice under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA)? According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in its Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2023-02 issued on May 10, the answer is yes: “This practice may
As discussed here and here, in October 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached a $3.38 million settlement with Passport Automotive Group (Passport) and two of its officers over allegations that the automotive group violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and the FTC Act by adding “junk fees” onto the cost of its
As discussed here, D.K. et al. v. United Behavioral Health et al. is a case that has been carefully watched in the health benefits space for its potential to change what health plan administrators must include in adverse benefit determination letters. On May 15, 2023, the Tenth Circuit issued its opinion affirming the district
The Sixth Circuit recently affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Michigan Regulation of Collection Practices Act (RCPA) suit, holding that the plaintiff lacked standing. The litigation, Van Vleck v. Leikin, Ingber, & Winters, P.C., arose from the defendant law firm’s service of process on the plaintiff
As discussed here, on March 30, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its final rule under Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Final Rule). Section 1071 amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to impose significant data collection and reporting requirements on small business creditors. On May 12, the CFPB issued a Small Entity Compliance Guide that includes a detailed summary of the Final Rule’s requirements and examples to illustrate some key portions of the Final Rule. For example, illustrations include what constitutes covered originations, what date should be reported for an application, and how a covered entity is to report a response to whether the applicant is a women-owned, minority-owned, and/or LGBTQI+ business if the applicant refuses to respond.
In Schmitt v. Security National Servicing Corporation, the plaintiff filed a class action complaint alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Ohio Residential Mortgage Lending Act (RMLA) premised on the assertion that her loan documents did not provide for the imposition of late fees after acceleration of the loan. The
Nearly two years after the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in Transunion v. Ramirez, courts and litigants continue to grapple with standing issues in Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) cases brought by plaintiffs alleging intangible harms to reputation and privacy interests. Prominent among these post-Ramirez FDCPA cases was Hunstein v. Preferred Collection &