On February 11, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced that payday lender Advance America Cash Advance Centers Inc. will pay $10 million to settle claims that it hid allegedly sky-high interest rates from consumers in violation of state law.
In a lawsuit against Advance America, Kane alleged that the company offered a loan product it
On February 10, the Department of Justice and the North Carolina Attorney General filed a consent decree to settle claims that a Charlotte-area “buy here pay here” dealer engaged in intentionally discriminatory “reverse redlining” practices. The regulators alleged that the defendants specifically targeted African-American customers and imposed onerous credit terms upon them without regard to
On February 5, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan testified before the U.S. Senate, calling on Congress to enact a strong, meaningful federal data breach notification law, while at the same time lobbying Congress to avoid preempting states from enforcing their own data protection laws.
Before the Senate’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in a
On February 3, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asked a federal district court to enter a consent order that would permanently ban a Texas company, Union Workers Credit Service, from offering any credit products or services after it duped thousands of consumers into signing up for a sham credit card. The CFPB claims that
Join us at the American Conference Institute’s 22nd National Forum on Consumer Finance Class Actions & Litigation. Two full days of expert strategies for in-house and outside counsel on navigating class actions, litigation, and government enforcement actions in the consumer finance industry.
April 13 – 14, 2015; Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza
On January 13, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a report on consumers’ mortgage shopping experiences. The CFPB found that almost half of consumers who take out a mortgage fail to shop prior to application and that consumers seriously consider only a single lender or mortgage broker before choosing where to apply. The
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office, in a recent press release, warned its in-state consumers of a “debt-collection” scam whereby imposters pose as law enforcement officials or government agencies. This warning was triggered by a sharp increase in the number of reports to the AG’s Office of threatening telephone calls and emails as part of
On January 15, 2015, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that he would be proposing legislation to overhaul New York’s data security law and require new and unprecedented safeguards for personal data of consumers. While the proposal has yet to be released, the Attorney General’s press release indicates that the proposal will include a
On December 10, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum proposed more rigorous requirements for companies to disclose data breaches that expose consumers’ personal information. Testifying before the Oregon joint Senate and House Judiciary Committee, Rosenblum called on the Oregon legislature to update the state’s data breach law and to extend data breach enforcement and notification to
On January 7, online retailer Zappos.com Inc. reached a long-awaited settlement with nine states over a 2012 data breach that compromised personal and financial information of nearly 24 million of the company’s customers. Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said in a published statement that a hacker was able to access sensitive data pertaining to millions