Two months after Bridgepoint Education, the operator of for-profit colleges Ashford University and the University of the Rockies, revealed it was being investigated by the Department of Justice over its federal student aid funding, another federal agency has ordered the company to forgive $23 million in student loans and pay an $8 million penalty over allegedly illegal student lending practices. [More]
consumer financial protection bureau
Wells Fargo On The Hook For $185 Million For Opening Unauthorized Accounts
By 9.8.16 — Updated: 9.30.16
More than a year after the city of Los Angeles sued Wells Fargo for alleged customer account abuses, including pushing employees into opening unauthorized accounts to make sales quotas, the banking giant has been ordered to pay more than $185 million in refunds and penalties. [More]
Wells Fargo Must Pay $4M Over Allegedly Illegal Student Loan Servicing
By 8.22.16
For the last 10 months, it’s been one of the banking industry’s worst-kept secrets that Wells Fargo’s student loan servicing business was being investigated by federal regulators. Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau confirmed these rumors and ordered Wells to pay more than $4 million in refunds and penalties over allegedly illegal loan servicing practices that increased costs and unfairly penalized certain borrowers. [More]
Guidelines Intend To Protect Homeowners As Foreclosure Relief Programs Expire
By 8.2.16
Nearly a decade after the housing bubble burst and the government created programs to provide relief for homeowners facing foreclosure, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working to ensure that consumers continue to receive needed assistance tailored to changing home retention needs. Today, the Bureau has released new a new outline to guide the creation of new solutions for foreclosure relief. [More]
New Guidelines Aim To Improve Customer Service, Enhance Protections On Federal Student Loans
By 7.20.16
The fact that two-thirds of college-bound students who take out loans to finance their higher education have little to no idea what they’re agreeing to, doesn’t mean these borrowers shouldn’t receive adequate protection from unscrupulous loan servicing companies. New guidelines from a pair of federal agencies are aimed at ensuring student loan borrowers get the service and protection they deserve. [More]
4 Things We Learned About Why Mortgage Servicers Continue To Stink
By 6.22.16
More than two years ago, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enacted rules about the ways mortgage servicers could operate and interact with borrowers, but a new report finds that many of these servicing companies continue to go about (bad) business as usual, using failed technology that has already harmed American homeowners.
[More]
Consumers, Payday Lending Employees Face Off On Proposed Short-Term Lending Rules
By 6.2.16
Consumer advocates, regulators, and representatives of the small-dollar lending industry descended upon Kansas City on Thursday to discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s long-awaited proposed rules intended to rein in predatory lending. [More]
New Rules Aim To Rein In Predatory Payday Lending, But Will They Work?
By 6.2.16
After nearly four years of studying the issue of high-cost, short-term financial products like payday loans, and auto-title loans, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finally released its proposed rules intended to prevent borrowers from falling into the costly revolving debt trap that can leave people worse off than if they hadn’t borrowed money in the first place. [More]
1-in-5 Auto Title Loans Lead To Vehicle Seizure
By 5.18.16
When seeking an infusion of cash to make ends meet, consumers may turn to payday loans, cash advance loans, or auto title loans. While each of these short-term, high-interest loans pose a financial risk to borrowers, only one has the ability to take away what is often a person’s largest asset: their vehicle. And, according to a new report, one-in-five consumers who take out a single-payment auto title loan have their car seized by lenders. [More]
RushCard To Pay $19M To Customers After Weeks-Long Glitch Last year
By 5.13.16
Last October, thousands of unbanked consumers who rely on prepaid RushCards were unable to access their funds because of a technical glitch. After toying with the idea of creating a compensation fund for those customers, RushCard announced Thursday that it will pay at least $19 million to card users affected by the weeks-long outage. [More]
Payday Loan, Check Cashing Operation Trained Employees To “Never Tell Customer The Fee”
By 5.11.16
All American Check Cashing collects approximately $1 million in check-cashing fees each year. But according to federal regulators, the company, which also provides payday loans, obtains those fees through deceptive means, including refusing to tell customers what they will be charged and lying to prevent consumers from backing out of transactions. [More]
Debt Collection Lawsuit Mill Hit With $2.5M Penalty
By 4.25.16
A New Jersey-based law firm that handed out hundreds of thousands of debt-collection lawsuits based on false or nonexistent information must — along with an associated debt buyer — pay $2.5 million in penalties to settle federal accusations that they were operating a lawsuit mill in violation of the law. [More]
Online Payday Lenders Could Be Worse Than Traditional Payday Lenders
By 4.20.16
The typical outsider’s view of payday lending involves seedy looking storefront shops in strip malls near pawn shops and bail bonds, so the idea of going to a short-term lender with a cleanly designed, professional website might seem more appealing (not to mention convenient). However, a new report finds that online payday loans may wreak more financial havoc than their bricks-and-mortar counterparts. [More]
Feds Shut Down Student Loan Debt Relief Operation That Collected $3.6M In Illegal Fees
By 3.30.16
Federal law bars debt relief services from receiving upfront fees before they’ve even renegotiated a single debt for a customer. But one student loan debt relief operation allegedly took in nearly $3.6 million in illegal fees, only to enroll borrowers in programs that are already available for free.
[More]
Banks Are The Key To Stopping Scammers That Target One In Five Older Americans
By 3.23.16
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million time: those who attempt – and often succeed – at scamming senior citizens of their savings are the worst of the worst when it comes to already unsavory, immoral fraudsters. Despite regulators’ attempts to take these operations out of commission, one in five older Americans report being the victims of financial exploitations either by ne’er-do-wells or family members. [More]
Servicemembers Twice As Likely To Submit Complaints About Unsavory Debt Collection Practices
By 3.22.16
While millions of Americans are no strangers to questionable debt-collection practices, a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shows that the men and women in the armed forces are twice as likely than their civilian counterparts to file a complaint when a collector crosses the line.
[More]
Debt Relief Company Must Pay $170M For Illegally Charging Customers
By 3.18.16
Back in 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued Morgan Drexen, accusing the debt relief company of deceiving customers with promises of reducing their debt and charging illegal upfront fees to do so. Today, the Bureau announced a federal district court approved a final judgement requiring the company to pay $132.8 million in restitution and a $40 million civil penalty. [More]
Religious Groups Call On DNC Chair To Denounce Pro-Payday Loan Bill
By 3.17.16
Faith-based community organizations are among the loudest voices in the battle against predatory lending practices like payday loans. And while most of their efforts are on education and local reforms, a coalition of these groups is thinking nationally, calling on Congress, including the chair of the Democratic National Party, to rethink their support a pro-payday loan piece of legislation. [More]
