According to a recent decision from the California Court of Appeal, mortgage lenders and servicers can, at least under certain circumstances, be “debt collectors” under the California Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, frequently referred to as the “Rosenthal Act.”.
In the case, plaintiff Edward Davidson filed a putative class action suing his mortgage servicer,
On February 16, a judge in the Eastern District of New York denied a defendant collection law firm’s motion to dismiss, finding that its collection letter violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act because it did not clearly set out that interest and fees may accrue on the “current balance.”
In addition to the hotly litigated mandatory disclosure of the “amount of the debt,” the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also requires a seemingly straightforward statement of “the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed” as set forth in 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a)(2). However, even this requirement has given rise to a
On January 3, a coalition of 49 state attorneys general announced a $45 million settlement with PHH Mortgage Corporation, which was accused of misconduct related to its servicing of single-family residential mortgages.
In announcing the settlement, state attorneys general from across the country touted their commitment to holding mortgage companies responsible for any misconduct that
Earlier this month, the Director of the Justice Department’s Civil Frauds Section issued a memorandum directing all DOJ attorneys evaluating False Claims Act (FCA) whistleblower cases to consider whether the government’s interests are best served by seeking a dismissal of questionable cases. The memorandum was first published by The National Law Journal and is available
2017 was a transformative year for the consumer financial services world. As we navigate an unprecedented volume of industry regulation and forthcoming changes from the Trump Administration, Troutman Sanders is uniquely positioned to help its clients find successful resolutions and stay ahead of the compliance curve.
In this report, we share developments on consumer
On December 14, the Supreme Court of Virginia reaffirmed in MCR Federal, LLC v. JB&A, Inc. that tort claims for actual and constructive fraud cannot stand where the source of the duty breached arises from the parties’ contractual relationship. The Court’s holding is consistent with established precedent and is beneficial to the mortgage servicing industry
On December 12, a federal judge dismissed a challenge to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s proposal to issue special purpose national bank charters to financial technology firms, finding that the plaintiff – the New York State Department of Financial Services – lacks standing and that the claims asserted are not ripe because
On December 8, the United States Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the tolling rule adopted in American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah – i.e., that the filing of a class action tolls the limitations period for a purported class member’s individual claims – permits a previously absent class member to bring a
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System recently issued a Consent Order against Peoples Bank, based in Lawrence, Kansas, to settle claims of deceptive residential mortgage origination practices that arose from the bank’s charging of fees in mortgage originations. The Federal Reserve alleged that Peoples told mortgage borrowers that certain additional fees that