CFPB's Policy Statement on Abusiveness (Part 2) - The Consumer Finance Podcast
On May 23, the CFPB published a blog post reporting that complaints from servicemembers, veterans, and their families significantly increased, with the total number of complaints surpassing 400,000 since the CFPB began...more
A couple of months ago, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a research paper it said revealed that many active duty servicemembers who were entitled to interest rate reductions under the federal Servicemembers...more
On December 7, 2022, the CFPB issued a report recommending that creditors proactively provide Servicemember Civil Relief Act (SCRA) interest rate benefits to eligible customers, bypassing the statute’s requirements of a...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a joint letter reminding the auto finance industry to enforce certain interest rate restrictions and other consumer protection...more
Following the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s supervisory observations that the auto finance industry seemed to be struggling with providing adequate consumer protections to servicemembers, the CFPB has joined with the...more
The Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative at the U.S. Department of Justice continues. At the end of July, the DOJ entered into a consent order in a Texas case where a towing company sold active-duty servicemembers' cars...more
In its recently published Summer 2019 Newsletter, the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (“DFI”) reported that it had interpreted the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”) broadly to apply the SCRA’s 6%...more
On April 26, the South Carolina Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (the “Act”) was signed into law and went into immediate effect. The Act seeks to “expand and supplement” the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”),...more
On March 6, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a California-based subprime auto lender and its affiliate. The order brings an end to a lawsuit filed by the DOJ in...more
On March 6, 2019, a California subprime auto lender, California Auto Finance, agreed to enter into a consent order with the Justice Department related to allegations that it repossessed vehicles in violation of the...more
On November 2, 2018, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced a settlement with a New York based credit union, resolving allegations that the credit union had illegally repossessed cars owned...more
The Department of Justice recently entered into a settlement with Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union to resolve allegations that it violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by repossessing vehicles owned by...more
On March 28, the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought another lawsuit against an auto finance company alleging the company violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by repossessing vehicles owned by servicemembers...more
On March 28, 2018, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced it had filed a lawsuit in the Central District of California against an auto lender for allegedly repossessing the vehicles of members of the armed forces...more
Last week the Department of Defense (DoD) issued an interpretive rule under the DoD’s Military Lending Act final rule (MLA Rule). The interpretive rule amends four of the “Q&A” format interpretations that DoD issued on August...more
The United States Department of Justice announced last week that Westlake Services LLC and its subsidiary, Wilshire Consumer Capital LLC, have agreed to pay $760,788 to resolve allegations the companies violated the...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week that it reached an agreement with Michigan-based COPOCO Community Credit Union to settle a lawsuit alleging that the credit union violated the Servicemembers Civil...more
A group of Democratic Senators have introduced a bill, the “Military Consumer Protection Act” (S. 1565), that would amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) to include various sections of the Servicemembers Civil...more
Several U.S. Senators have introduced legislation for a Military Consumer Enforcement Act that would seek to empower the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to oversee and enforce compliance with the Servicemember...more
The CFPB’s Office of Servicemember Affairs (OSA) has issued its fifth annual report to Congress addressing issues raised and complaints submitted by servicemembers, veterans, and their families....more
On November 18, the GAO released a report examining issues related to implementation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) interest rate cap for student loans. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and...more
According to an announcement posted on the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Website, “[a] bug in the SCRA website is causing the site to give false negatives for some National Guard members whose service should be positively...more
On September 29, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a national bank over allegations that the bank had engaged in unlawful debt collection practices, in violation of...more
On July 21, 2015, the U.S. Department of Defense (“DOD”) announced the final rule amending the Military Lending Act’s (“MLA”) implementing regulations. The changes apply the MLA’s strict lending restrictions to consumer...more