All in Regulatory Update

On November 20, 2023, the CFPB and 11 states announced that Prehired will provide more than $30 million in relief to student borrowers for making false promises of job placement, trapping students with “income share” loans that violated the law, and resorting to abusive debt collection practices when borrowers could not pay. In July this year, the CFPB and several state attorneys general and a state regulator filed a complaint against Prehired for deceptive marketing and debt collection practices.

On November 15, 2023, the CFPB ordered online lender Enova International Inc. to pay a $15 million penalty for widespread illegal conduct including withdrawing funds from customers’ bank accounts without their permission, making deceptive statements about loans, and cancelling loan extensions. In 2019, Enova paid a $3.2 million penalty to the CFPB and was ordered to cease its illegal conduct.

On November 13, 2023, the CFPB announced that 845 former Student Aid Institute (SAI) consumers will receive checks in the mail in response to a lawsuit filed against Frank Ronald Gebase Jr., the founder, owner, and operator of Processingstudentloans, a student loan debt-relief company that illegally withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bank accounts of former SAI consumers without their authorization. The total distribution amount is $240,994.00, and the money will come from the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

On November 13, 2023, the OCC announced that registration is open for its symposium on the tokenization of real-world assets and liabilities on February 8, 2024, at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The symposium will include panel discussions among thought leaders, academics, community groups, and the banking industry on tokenization and is open to the public for in-person or virtual attendance.

On November 8, 2023, the CFPB ordered Citi to pay $25.9 million in fines and consumer redress for intentionally and illegally discriminating against credit card applicants the bank identified as Armenian American. According to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, Citi purposefully discriminated against applicants of Armenian descent, primarily based on the spelling of their last name, and stereotyped Armenians as prone to crime and fraud. Chopra also said that Citi illegally fabricated documents to cover up its discrimination.