InfoBytes Blog
Filter
Subscribe to our InfoBytes Blog weekly newsletter and other publications for news affecting the financial services industry.
Massachusetts Releases FAQs For New Loan Servicing, Collection Rules
On December 18, the Massachusetts Division of Banks published a short set of frequently-asked-questions related to new regulations intended to parallel and supplement mortgage servicing requirements promulgated by the CFPB and included in National Mortgage Servicing Settlement.
Italy's High Court Upholds Acquittal of Google Executives In Video Privacy Case
On December 17, Italy’s highest court, the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation, issued a landmark ruling upholding the acquittal of three Google senior executives by the Milan Court of Appeals. Initially, an Italian trial court convicted the executives of criminal violations of Italy’s privacy laws for allegedly allowing a controversial video to be uploaded to the precursor to YouTube by a user of the service without first screening the video. The Milan Court of Appeals rejected prosecutors’ contention that the company should be responsible for prescreening user-provided content, and agreed with the executives that requiring prescreening for such content would not only infringe on users’ freedom of expression, but would undermine websites’ functionality. The Court of Cassation will issue a written statement of its reasoning early next year. BuckleySandler attorneys Samuel Buffone and Ann Wiles represented two of the three Google executives.
New York Appellate Court Resolves Trial Court Split Over Statute Of Limitations For Repurchase Suits
On December 19, the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, held that the statute of limitations on claims related to mortgage repurchase obligations begins to run as of the date of closing of the loan purchase agreement. Ace Securities Corp v. DB Structured Prods., Inc., No. 650980/12, 2013 WL 6670379 (N.Y. App. Div. Dec. 19, 2013). The decision resolves a split at the trial court level that resulted from diverging opinions issued earlier this year, in which one court held that the clock on claims by trustees that a securitizer breached its contract by failing to repurchase began to run on the date the representations were made (i.e. the date the pooling and servicing agreement closed), while another court held that the statute did not begin to run until the securitizers improperly rejected the trustee’s repurchase demand, i.e. the breach is the failure to comply, not the date of the representation. On appeal of the latter holding, the court rejected the trustee’s and investors’ argument that the statute does not begin to run until the lender refused to cure or repurchase the defective loans, and held that the claims accrued on the closing date of the pooling and servicing agreement, at which time any alleged breach of the representations and warranties contained therein occurred.
Ninth Circuit Invalidates Online Marketing Company Consumer Contract, Arbitration Agreement
On December 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that an online marketing company cannot compel arbitration in a suit brought by a putative class of consumers who claim they were improperly charged for a subscription service they never intended to purchase. Lee v. Intelius, Inc. No. 11-35810, 2013 WL 6570899 (9th Cir. Dec. 16, 2013). The named plaintiffs sued a company that performs background checks after noticing regularly monthly charges for a report they allegedly did not intend to purchase. The background check company added an online marketing firm as a third-party defendant, arguing it was that firm whose subscription service the consumers were allegedly misled into purchasing. The district court explained that the background check company provided the marketing company space on its website and used the now illegal “data pass” method of sharing credit card information to assist the marketing company in enrolling consumers in free trial subscription offers, which converted to a monthly billed subscription without cancellation. The district court held that the consumers entered into a contract for the subscription service, but denied the marketing company’s motion to compel arbitration. On appeal the Ninth Circuit disagreed, determining that the subscription service website to which consumers were directed after purchasing background reports was designed to deceive consumers. The appellate court reasoned that under Washington law, a contract requires mutual assent to its essential terms—including the names of the parties—in order to be binding, and in this case the web page through which the consumers allegedly purchased the subscription service did not sufficiently identify the marketing company as the contracting entity. The court expressed skepticism that the consumers assented to the contract by providing their email addresses and clicking a “yes” button, but given that Washington law is not settled on whether a website “click” can constitute an electronic signature, the court did not rest its conclusion on whether the consumers objectively manifested consent to the contract. Further, the court held that even on the assumption that consumers did enter a contract to purchase the subscription service by clicking on the “yes” button, they did not agree to arbitration because the arbitration terms were included in a separate hyperlink that consumers did not click.
SDNY Grants DOJ's Request To Add Bank Executive To Pending FCA/FIRREA Litigation
On December 12, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the DOJ’s motion to add a bank executive to a civil fraud suit it filed over a year earlier against a mortgage lender alleged to have falsely certified loans under the FHA’s Direct Endorsement Lender Program. U.S. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., No. 12-7527, slip op. (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 12, 2013). The government alleges that the bank’s vice president in charge of quality control purposefully failed to self-report bad loans to HUD, despite having knowledge of HUD’s reporting requirements, and that he signed annual certifications misrepresenting to HUD that the bank complied with those reporting requirements. The court agreed with the government’s contentions that amending the complaint to add the individual defendant was permissible because (i) the bank would not be unduly prejudiced because the allegations were already at issue in the pending suit and the parties had yet to begin discovery; (ii) the claims that the government would assert were not futile, as the court had already ruled on the validity of the government’s theories of liability under the FCA and FIRREA, and the new defendant would have the opportunity to seek dismissal on other grounds; (iii) there had been no undue delay, because the government had not received authority to add the executive until after the bank’s motion to dismiss was fully submitted, and had not made a final determination to bring the proposed action against the executive until the day it informed the bank of its intention to do so; and (iv) the interests of judicial economy supported joinder insofar as a separate suit against the executive for conduct already at issue here would have been inefficient. The court did not address the bank’s argument that the government knew sooner of its authority to add the executive, ultimately and improperly electing to do so because the bank suspended settlement negotiations.
DOJ, SEC Announce Anti-Bribery Enforcement Actions Against U.S. Agribusiness Firm
On December 20, the DOJ and the SEC announced separate enforcement actions against a major U.S. agribusiness firm and one of its foreign subsidiaries. In the DOJ action filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, a foreign subsidiary of the U.S. corporate parent pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA, and agreed to pay $17.8 million in criminal fines. The plea agreement resolved allegations that the subsidiary paid bribes through intermediary firms to Ukrainian government officials in exchange for over $100 million in value-added tax (VAT) refunds. The DOJ also entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. parent to resolve claims that the company failed to implement internal controls sufficient to prevent and detect FCPA violations. Under that agreement, the company must periodically report on its compliance efforts, and continue implementing enhanced compliance programs and internal controls. The SEC’s parallel civil enforcement action resolved charges that the parent firm’s lack of sufficient anti-bribery compliance controls, which contributed to FCPA violations by foreign subsidiaries that generated over $33 million in illegal profits. The U.S. parent corporation consented to entry of a judgment that requires the company to disgorge the illegal profits plus $3 million in interest. The judgment also permanently enjoins the parent company from violating the relevant parts of the Exchange Act and requires compliance reporting for a three-year period.
CFPB, State AGs Announce First Nonbank National Servicing Settlement
On December 19, the CFPB and attorneys general for 49 states and the District of Columbia, and a nonbank mortgage servicer, filed a proposed consent order in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, pursuant to which the servicer will be required to provide $2 billion in principal reduction to certain borrowers and refund $125 million to nearly 185,000 borrowers who were foreclosed upon.
The agreement is modeled on the 2012 national mortgage servicing settlement between five banks and federal and state authorities, and it is the first such agreement with a nonbank mortgage servicer. The proposed order would resolve allegations that the servicer, and two other servicers it acquired in recent years, engaged in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the servicing of residential mortgages and foreclosure processing in violation of state consumer protection laws and the Consumer Financial Protection Act. Those allegations are detailed in a complaint filed by the CFPB and states on the same day.
Along with the monetary settlement, the agreement requires the servicer to implement numerous servicing policy changes, which incorporate the standards established in the national servicing settlement and add requirements related to transferred loans. The servicing requirements included in the settlement are in addition to new servicing standards the CFPB finalized earlier this year, which take effect on January 10, 2014. Compliance with the agreement will be overseen by the monitor of the national settlement. The agreement does not include releases for any potential claims of criminal liability and does not prohibit private actions.
Colorado AG Files Suit against Debt Buyers Alleging Fraudulent Collection Practices
On December 10, the Colorado Attorney General (AG) announced a lawsuit against a debt buyer and its principal for allegedly engaging in fraudulent conduct in attempting to collect charged-off debt purchased from two national banks. The complaint also names two debt collection companies to whom the debt buyer resold some of the debt acquired from the banks. The AG asserts that all three companies routinely used false affidavits to collect on the debt.
The complaint scrutinizes the agreements pursuant to which the banks transferred the charged-off debt to the debt buyer. The AG states that the agreements limited the information the banks were obligated to provide to the buyer, requiring it to purchase evidence of the debt from the banks as needed. If the buyer requested documents that the banks could not locate, the banks agreed to provide affidavits attesting to the validity of such debts.
According to the complaint, the debt buyer sought to maximize its profits by using such affidavits and other materials provided by the banks to fabricate similar documents. It then allegedly used those false materials to collect debts from Colorado consumers, or provided the fabricated materials to the debt collectors to whom it had resold some of the debt. The complaint notes that neither of the two debt collectors “had policies or procedures for the evaluation of the validity or accuracy of account documentation that they received regarding debt that they purchased or sought to collect on.”
The AG claims that the creation, use, and distribution of the false bank documents violated the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. The AG also claims the debt buyer conducted collection activities in the state without obtaining a license, in violation of the state licensing law. The complaint seeks, among other things, civil penalties, actual damages, restitution, and disgorgement of all profits from the allegedly unlawful activities.
CFPB Releases Annual Report On College Cards, Urges Disclosure Of Campus Marketing Agreements
On December 17, the CFPB released its annual report to Congress on college credit card agreements, prepared pursuant to the CARD Act. The report follows an inquiry launched earlier this year into financial products marketed to students. The study revealed that since 2009, the number of college card agreements in effect has decreased by 41 percent, the compensation paid to colleges and universities has decreased by 40 percent, and the number of new accounts opened by students has decreased by 18 percent.
The Bureau’s press release urges financial institutions to voluntarily disclose to the public any agreements with colleges and universities to market debt, prepaid, and other products to students and warns that “[t]he CFPB prioritizes its supervisory examinations based on the risks posed to consumers” and “[failing to make] college financial product arrangements transparent to students and their families . . . increase[s] such risks.”
CFPB Announces First Online Lending Lawsuit
On December 16, the CFPB announced a civil lawsuit against a California-based online loan servicer and its owner, subsidiary, and affiliate for allegedly violating the Consumer Financial Protection Act by collecting money consumers did not owe. This is the first CFPB enforcement action to target online lending directly and, according to the CFPB, represents “a significant step in the Bureau’s efforts to address regulatory-evasion schemes that are increasingly becoming a feature of the online small-dollar and payday lending industry.”
The subject loans were acquired from an online payday lender that recently shut down its operations after commencement of investigations and court actions across several states. According to the complaint, the defendants violated licensing requirements and interest-rate caps in several states that rendered certain high-cost loans void or otherwise nullified but nonetheless continued to collect money from borrowers. The complaint states that the defendants’ engaged in unfair and deceptive practices by sending collection notices, debiting accounts, and demanding payments related to such loans without disclosing that the borrowers were not obligated to pay the amounts under state law. The complaint also alleges that the defendants’ actions were abusive because they took unreasonable advantage of consumers’ lack of understanding of applicable state laws.
The CFPB action parallels actions taken by several other state attorneys general on the same day.