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DOJ Reaches Agreement With Leading Mortgage Servicers Over Servicemember Foreclosures
On February 9, the DOJ announced a $123 million settlement with five national mortgage servicers for allegedly violating sections of the SCRA. Specifically, the DOJ alleges that the mortgage servicers subjected over 900 service members to unlawful non-judicial foreclosures between January 1, 2006 and April 4, 2012. Under the SCRA portion of the 2012 National Mortgage Settlement, the five mortgage servicers will reimburse millions of dollars to service members who should have been protected from foreclosure, as per Section 533 of the SCRA, which “prohibits non-judicial foreclosures against service members who are in military service or within the applicable post-service period, as long as they originated their mortgages before their period of military service began.” The mortgage servicers are cooperating with the Justice Department to compensate service members affected by the alleged non-judicial foreclosures.
Payday Lender Agrees to Refund $8 Million in Settlement with Pennsylvania AG
On February 11, the Pennsylvania AG announced a settlement with a national payday lender that will pay $8 million in restitution to consumers who were allegedly provided illegal payday loans. According to the state AG, the lender misled consumers by charging a “monthly participation fee” on a loan product, when it was actually interest added on to consumers’ account balances. The state AG charged that the practices violated Pennsylvania’s Consumer Protection Law. In addition to providing restitution, the lender agreed to (i) forgive $12 million of unpaid principal balances; (ii) pay $1.75 million in total costs to the state AG’s office and the Department of Banking and Securities; (iii) pay $250,000 to a third-party administrator to distribute the restitution to eligible consumers.
CFPB Orders Nonbank Mortgage Lender to Pay $2 Million Penalty for Deceptive Advertising and Kickbacks
On February 10, the CFPB announced a consent order with a Maryland-based nonbank mortgage lender, ordering the lender to pay a $2 million civil money penalty for allegedly failing to disclose its financial relationship with a veteran’s organization to consumers. According to the consent order, the CFPB alleged that the lender, whose primary business is originating VA loans, paid a veteran’s organization a fee to be named the “exclusive lender” of the organization and that failing to disclose this relationship in marketing materials targeted to the organization’s members constituted a deceptive act or practice under the Dodd-Frank Act. The CFPB further alleged that, because the veteran’s organization urged its members to use the lender’s products in direct mailings from the lender, call center referrals, and through the organization’s website, the monthly “licensing fee” and “lead generation fees” paid to the veteran’s organization and a third party broker company as part of marketing and referral arrangements constituted illegal kickbacks in violation of RESPA. In addition to the civil money penalty, the consent order requires the lender to submit a compliance plan to the CFPB and comply with additional record keeping, reporting, and compliance monitoring requirements.
CFPB Orders Credit Card Company to Refund $2.7 Million for Charging Excessive Credit Card Fees
On February 4, the CFPB announced a consent order with a Delaware-based credit card company, ordering the company to refund an estimated $2.7 million to approximately 98,000 consumers and pay a civil penalty of $250,000 for allegedly charging consumers illegal credit card fees. According to the consent order, the CFPB alleged the company charged customers fees during the first year after customers opened the account that exceeded the 25% credit limit imposed by the CARD Act. The CFPB further alleged that the company, offering the credit cards through a state-chartered credit union, misled customers about paper statement fees associated with their credit cards and falsely claimed that certain security deposits were “FDIC insured” when they were not. In addition to the refund to customers and civil penalty, the consent order requires the company (i) to refrain from charging fees that exceed 25% of a customer’s credit limit in the first year of the account and (ii) subjects itself to CFPB supervisory authority for the first time.
CFPB Seeks to Ban Texas-Based Credit Issuer
On February 3, the CFPB asked a federal district court to enter a consent order against a Texas-based company for allegedly misleading thousands of consumers into signing up for a “sham” credit card. Under the terms of the consent order, the company would be prohibited from offering any future credit products and services and a $70,000 civil money penalty. For more, please refer to our InfoBytes as this development was previously covered on December 19.
DOJ and State AGs Announce Settlement with Credit Rating Agency
On February 3, the DOJ announced a settlement agreement with a large credit rating agency and its parent company for $1.375 billion – a record amount according to the DOJ – in connection with the agency’s alleged “scheme to defraud investors in structured financial products known as Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs).” In 2013, the DOJ, along with 19 states plus the District of Columbia, brought the lawsuit against the agency for misrepresenting the securities’ true credit risks through inflated ratings, which led investors to suffer substantial losses right before the financial crisis. While the agency is neither admitting to nor denying the allegations, it has agreed to (i) “retract an allegation that the United States’ lawsuit was filed in retaliation for the defendant’s decision with regard to the credit of the United States;” (ii) abide by the consumer protection statutes set forth by the settling states and DC; and (iii) answer requests from any of the states and DC regarding information on potential violations of the consumer protection laws.
California Public Employees' Retirement System Settles with Credit Rating Agency
On February 3, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) announced a $125 million settlement with a large credit rating agency and its parent company to resolve charges made in connection with the agency’s inflated ratings of three structured investment vehicle notes that collapsed during the financial crisis. The CalPERS settlement is separate from the DOJ’s settlement with the same credit rating agency. The state-operated retirement system will collect an additional $176 million from the State of California’s $210 million received from the DOJ settlement, for a total of $301 million.
SEC Announces First-Ever Enforcement Action Against Credit Ratings Agency
On January 21, the SEC announced a settlement with a credit rating agency in connection with its rating of certain commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). The ratings agency agreed to pay the SEC more than $58 million for allegedly (i) misrepresenting its conduit fusion CMBS ratings methodology; (ii) publishing a “false and misleading article purporting to show that its new credit enhancement levels could withstand Great Depression-era levels of economic stress;” and (iii) failing to maintain and enforce internal controls regarding changes to its surveillance criteria. In a separate administrative order, the SEC instituted a litigated administrative proceeding against the former head of the agency’s CMBS Group for “fraudulently misreprent[ing] the manner in which the [ratings agency] calculated a critical aspect of certain CMBS ratings in 2011.”
CFPB and Maryland AG Bring Enforcement Action For Alleged RESPA Violations
On January 22, the CFPB and Maryland Attorney General announced an enforcement action against two banks, as well as a former loan officer and his wife, for alleged violations of RESPA and state law. The complaint filed in the District of Maryland alleges that loan officers at the banks accepted leads and marketing assistance from a title company in exchange for the referral of settlement service business to the title company. The parties filed Stipulated Final Judgments and Orders, under which one bank will pay approximately $10.8 million to consumers and $24 million in penalties, and the other bank will pay $300,000 to consumers and $600,000 in penalties. The individual loan officer and his wife will pay a combined $30,000 penalty.
NY Attorney General Announces Agreement To End Bank's Alleged Mortgage Redlining
On January 19, the New York Attorney General (AG) announced an agreement with a New York-based community bank that the AG alleged had excluded predominantly minority neighborhoods from its mortgage lending business. As part of the agreement, the bank will (i) open two branches in neighborhoods with a minority population of at least 30 percent, with the first located within two miles of a majority-minority neighborhood and the second located within one mile of a majority-minority neighborhood; (ii) create a special financing program to provide $500,000 in discounts or subsidies on loans to residents of majority-minority neighborhoods; and (iii) create a marketing program directed at minority communities. Additionally, the bank agreed to submit to reporting and monitoring by the AG for a three-year period and pay $150,000 in costs to the State of New York.