Before offering a prospective employee a job, many companies will first perform a background check. As with credit reports, any inaccuracies in these transcripts can affect an applicant’s eligibility for employment. To that end, federal regulators have ordered two of the country’s largest employment background screening report providers to pay $13 million in penalties and refunds for providing inaccurate information. [More]
consumer financial protection bureau
RushCard To Create Reimbursement Fund For Customers Unable To Access Money
By 10.29.15
The thousands of unbanked consumers who rely on prepaid RushCards but have been unable to access their funds because of a technical glitch, may receive compensation for the issue. [More]
Feds Win Default Judgment Against Corinthian Colleges Over Predatory Lending Scheme
By 10.28.15
In September 2014, just seven months before Everest University, WyoTech and Heald College closed their doors, federal regulators sued the for-profit colleges’ parent company Corinthian Colleges Inc claiming it duped thousands of students into taking out costly, predatory, and often financially devastating, private student loans to finance their post-secondary education. This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau won a default judgment against the for-profit educator for engaging in a predatory lending scheme. [More]
Auto Lender Must Pay $3.28M In Refunds, Penalties For Illegal Debt Collection Tactics Against Servicemembers
By 10.28.15
Four months after federal regulators filed a lawsuit against an Ohio-based auto loan company over allegations it violated consumer protection laws – including those protecting servicemembers – in order to collect debts, Security National Automotive Acceptance Company (SNAAC) will pay $3.28 million in refunds and fines to resolve the case. [More]
New Campus Banking Rules Hope To Protect Students From High Prepaid & Debit Card Fees
By 10.27.15
Back in May, the Department of Education proposed rules to govern college prepaid and debit cards in order to afford students proper protections from excess fees and other harmful practices. Fast forward five months, and those rules have are now finalized. [More]
After RushCard Fiasco, Consumer Advocates Urge More Oversight Of Prepaid Cards
By 10.26.15
For the better part of two weeks, thousands of unbanked consumers who rely on prepaid RushCards have been unable to access their funds because of a technical glitch. While the company run by Russell Simmons continues to fix the issue, consumer advocates are pointing at the incident as evidence that federal regulators need to do more to protect prepaid cardholders. [More]
Borrowers With Federal Student Loans Made By Private Lenders At Greater Risk For Default
By 10.14.15
Consumers who took out federal student loans through private lenders are more likely to default on their debts than their counterparts who received federal loans through the Department of Education, in part because these borrowers have difficulty obtaining adequate information on repayment options. [More]
Wells Fargo Reportedly Under Federal Investigation Related To Student Loan Servicing
By 10.9.15
According to a new report, Wells Fargo is the latest big-name bank to be scrutinized as part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ongoing investigation into student loan servicing practices.
[More]
Consumer, Privacy Groups Urge Federal Regulators To Investigate T-Mobile/Experian Hack
By 10.8.15
A week after Experian revealed that hackers stole personal information for around 15 million consumers from a database of T-Mobile customers and applicants held by the credit reporting agency, a group of 25 consumer and privacy advocates are demanding that federal regulators open an investigation into the breach.
[More]
Feds Recommend Overhaul Of Student Loan Servicing
By 9.29.15
Earlier this year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launched a public probe into potentially anti-consumer practices of the student loan servicing industry. More than 30,000 people responded, leading the Bureau, along with the Departments of Education and Treasury, to release a framework they hope will curb these questionable practices, promote borrower success, and minimize defaults. [More]
Regulators Take Action Against Fifth Third Bank For Auto-Lending Discrimination, Illegal Credit Card Practices
By 9.28.15
Federal regulators dished out a double dose of enforcement today by taking action against Fifth Third Bank for allegedly charging higher interest rates to minority borrowers for car loans and deceptively marketing credit card add-on products to bank customers. [More]
NJ-Based Bank Must Pay $33M To Settle Discriminatory Lending Charges
By 9.24.15
“Redlining” is the act of denying services, either directly or through selectively raising prices, to residents of a certain area based on race or ethnicity. Federal law prohibits creditors from this type of discrimination, but New Jersey-based Hudson City Savings Bank is now on the hook for a total of nearly $33 million for allegedly providing unequal access to credit in parts of four states. [More]
The Country’s Two Largest Debt Buyers Must Refund Consumers $61M Over Illegal Collection Practices
By 9.9.15
Encore Capital Group and Portfolio Recovery Associates are two of the biggest names in the debt-buying game, and according to federal regulators they have often used deceptive and harmful tactics to collect their newly acquired debts. Now, as a result of these actions, the companies must refund consumers $61 million and pay $18 million in penalties. [More]
College-Bound Students Should Shop Around For Bank Accounts
By 8.27.15
With millions of young adults heading off to college this month, federal regulators are reminding those consumers to do their homework. Okay, not that homework, but the kind related to researching college-sponsored bank accounts. [More]
Sallie Mae Spinoff Navient Could Face CFPB Lawsuit Over Student Loans
By 8.25.15
In the short time since Navient – the nation’s largest student loan servicing company – spun off from Sallie Mae, the company has come under scrutiny for it allegedly unfair practices of overcharging and imposing excessive fees on consumers’ loans. While those practices resulted in a $97 million settlement with the Depts. of Education and Justice, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, they could soon lead to a lawsuit from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. [More]
Regulators Sue Pension Advance Companies Over Deceptive Marketing Of Loans
By 8.20.15
Five months after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned that pension advance loans could be the new payday loan – leaving consumers who are already struggling to make ends meet in dire financial situations – the agency announced it had teamed up with the state of New York to shut down two companies that allegedly deceived retirees about the risks and costs associated with the loan products. [More]
Company Offering Deferred-Interest Loans For Dental Work Must Repay $700K To Consumers Over False Claims
By 8.19.15
Getting a root canal, a crown replaced, or even a simple filling at the dentist can really drain your bank account, especially if you don’t have insurance. That’s why a growing number of dental offices are offering third-party financing to patients. But sometimes these loans offer terms that are too good to be true. [More]
Citizens Bank Must Pay $31.5M In Fines, Refunds For Failing To Credit Full Deposit Amounts
By 8.12.15
Several federal agencies teamed up like your favorite buddy-cop movie to bring down the bad guy today. In this particular case the bad guy was Citizens Bank, which must now pay a total of $20.5 million in penalties and $11 million in refunds to the owners of accounts it allegedly failed to credit for full amounts of deposited funds. [More]
