The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy in unimaginable ways. Millions are unemployed as a result of federal and state action to contain and limit the spread of the virus. The cascading effects of shutting down the entire U.S. economy have already been felt by both mortgage servicers and borrowers alike.
In
World Acceptance Corp., a Greenville, South Carolina-based consumer lender, recently announced it has set aside $21.7 million in anticipation of resolving a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) investigation into the company’s Mexico-based subsidiary by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice.
The investigation has focused on the legality of certain
The Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee are pushing their proposed package of bills aimed at responding to the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic. This time around, they are supporting the bill that would place a moratorium on debt collection activities for the duration of the pandemic.
A May 5 release from the Democrats on the
On May 14, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reached an $18 million settlement with mortgage lender Monster Loans (a/k/a Chou Team Realty LLC) and several individual, related entities to resolve allegations that they impermissibly and duplicitously obtained credit reports for their associated student loan debt-relief companies, which, in turn, used the consumer reports to deceptively
On March 30, several financial service providers filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking for clarification on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s emergency purposes exception in the context of the coronavirus (“COVID-19”). The comment period on that petition closed this week, with a further reply date of May 21, 2020. This follows the
On April 27, the National Credit Union Association (“NCUA”) issued an interim final rule updating several existing regulations (12 C.F.R. Parts 702 and 723) to conform to changes made by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”)
The status of the Louisiana Public Service Commission’s (“Commission”) potential enforcement of the available emergency measures pursuant to the Do Not Call General Order (Docket No. R_29617, decided Oct. 11, 2006) (“DNC Order”) has been unclear. While these emergency measures generally have been imposed during prior emergencies, they presently remain unimplemented despite Governor John Bel
Overview
Earlier this week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an interpretive rule intended to “make it easier for consumers with urgent financial needs to obtain access to mortgage credit more quickly in the middle of the [coronavirus] COVID-19 pandemic.” The rule clarifies how the right of consumers to waive certain protections provided in the
On April 21, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”) announced limits on servicer obligations to advance scheduled monthly principal and interest payments for single-family mortgage loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the “Enterprises”). Once a servicer has advanced four months of missed payments on a loan, it will have
On April 22, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia issued another amended emergency order extending court deadlines. The order can be found here. The Court’s new order delays all court deadlines for matters scheduled to occur during the emergency period from March 23, 2020 to May 15, 2020 until May 18, 2020.