Navient, the largest student loan servicer in the country, is here to simply collect your monthly education loan payments, not help you find ways to more easily afford those payments. [More]
consumer financial protection bureau
Complaints About Student Loan Servicing Increased 429% In Past Year
By 3.28.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
In the past year, federal regulators and consumer advocates have highlighted issues with student loans and the servicing of these often crippling debts: from finding that educational loans continue to haunt older borrowers, to suing Navient, the largest student loan servicing company. Because of this, it might not come as much of a surprise that the number of complaints the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau received related to student loans has skyrocketed. [More]
Experian Fined $3M, Accused Of Misleading Consumers About Usefulness Of Credit Scores
By 3.23.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Two months after federal regulators fined two of the nation’s largest credit reporting agencies — Equifax and TransUnion — $23 million for misleading consumers about the cost and usefulness of credit monitoring services, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced a $3 million settlement with Experian over allegations that the credit agency misled consumers about the usefulness of the credit scores available for purchase. [More]
White House Wants Authority To Fire Consumer Protection Chief
By 3.20.17 — Updated: 1.4.18
While the heads of most federal agencies have been replaced since the new administration moved into the White House, Richard Cordray remains Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That’s because President Trump currently can’t fire him without having to first show cause — a requirement the White House wants to get rid of. [More]
More Than 1.1M Federal Student Loan Borrowers Entered Default Last Year
By 3.15.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
With the cost of college tuition continuing to increase, it likely comes as no surprise that more borrowers are finding themselves in default. In 2016 alone, 1.1 million borrowers entered default for their federal student loans. [More]
Court: CFPB Has Authority To Request Seven Years’ Worth Of Foreclosure Documents
By 2.17.17
Back in November, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against one of the nation’s largest providers of seller-financed homes after it failed to comply with a subpoena to turn over documents related to home foreclosures. This week, a judge upheld the Bureau’s authority to request the documents from Harbour Portfolio Advisors. [More]
Appeals Court Will Rehear Case Involving Constitutionality Of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
By 2.16.17
Four months after a three-judge panel issued a 2-1 ruling that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unconstitutional, the full Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has agreed to rehear the issue. [More]
Lawmakers Introduce Legislation That Would Abolish The CFPB
By 2.15.17 — Updated: 2.16.17
The future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues to remain in question with yet another attack being lobbed at the Bureau this week as lawmakers introduced new legislation both in the House and Senate that would abolish the agency. [More]
Bank-Backed Congressman Introducing Law To Gut Consumer Financial Protections
By 2.9.17
Less than a week after President Trump signed a mostly symbolic executive order directing federal regulators to revise the rules established by the 2010 financial reforms, one lawmaker (whose campaign just happens to have been heavily financed by big banks) is planning to introduce legislation to scale back consumer protections and allow banks to take more risks. [More]
Legal Fund Accused Of Deceiving 9/11 First Responders & NFL Players Out Of Settlement Payments
By 2.7.17 — Updated: 2.8.17
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the state of New York have accused a New Jersey company of defrauding customers — including Sept. 11 first responders and former NFL players suffering from long-term brain injuries — into signing away millions of dollars in settlement payouts. [More]
Congress Trying To Roll Back Consumer Protections For Prepaid Cards
By 2.3.17
Last fall, weeks before the election, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau concluded a three-year process of trying to make prepaid cards less costly. Those new rules, which would improve transparency and curb runaway fees, are set to go into effect later this year, but not if lawmakers on Capitol Hill have their say. [More]
Feds Order MasterCard, RushCard Owner To Pay $13M Over Oct. 2015 Outages
By 2.1.17
Nearly 15 months after tens of thousands of users of the prepaid RushCard were cut off from their funds because of an apparent technical glitch, the company behind the card, UniRush and its payment processor MasterCard have been ordered to pay $13 million in refunds and penalties. [More]
Lenders, Real Estate Brokers To Pay More Than $5M For Alleged Kickback Scheme
By 1.31.17
The home buying process is complicated and expensive enough without mortgage servicers and real estate brokers tacking on illegal and costly fees. To that end, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered Prospect Mortgage and three other companies to pay more than $5 million to settle allegations they participated in an illegal kickback scheme. [More]
Feds Sue Debt Relief Law Firm For Charging Customers Illegal Fees
By 1.30.17
Nearly four years ago, federal regulators shut down a debt relief company — Morgan Drexen — accused of deceiving customers with promises of reducing their debt and charging illegal upfront fees to do so. While that company eventually paid $170 million to resolve the allegations, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Monday sued a related company using the same playbook. [More]
CitiFinancial, CitiMortgage To Pay $28.8M Over Mortgage Servicing Issues
By 1.24.17
Millions of consumers lost their homes when the housing market bubble burst. But federal regulators say some of those people may have been able to stay in their homes had mortgage lenders fulfilled their requirements. To that end, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered two Citigroup subsidiaries to pay $28.8 million to resolve allegations that some of its mortgage units harmed home borrowers. [More]
Student Loan Giant Navient Sued By CFPB & Two States Over Alleged Illegal Practices
By 1.18.17
Eighteen months after Sallie Mae spin-off Navient revealed that its wholly-owned subsidiary Navient Solutions Inc could one day be on the receiving end of a federal lawsuit related to its student loans servicing practices, the day has come to pass. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with two states, filed lawsuits against the nation’s largest student loan company for allegedly cheating borrowers out of repayment rights. [More]
Medical Debt Collection Firms Must Refund $577K For Threatening Consumers
By 1.9.17 — Updated: 1.10.17
In this latest episode of Debt Collectors Behaving Badly, we bring you the tale of two medical debt collection law firms who must now refund hundreds of thousands of dollars after they were caught falsely claiming that attorneys were involved in collection actions. [More]
Student Loan Servicing Issues Contribute To Older Borrowers’ Defaults
By 1.5.17
In 2015, nearly 40% of all federal student loan borrowers over the age of 65 were in default, thanks in part to issues they faced when it came to the servicing of their debts, including problems enrolling in income-driven repayment plans and accessing protections as co-signers. [More]
