On 3/11/21, the CFPB announced that it is rescinding a policy statement that was just over a year old. Specifically, the CFPB has rescinded its January 24, 2020 policy statement titled “Statement of Policy Regarding Prohibition on Abusive Acts or Practices.” In their release, the CFPB explains that they intend to exercise its supervisory and enforcement authority consistent with the full scope of its statutory authority under the Dodd-Frank Act and these changes help to better protect consumers and the marketplace from abusive acts or practices.

On 10/13/2020, the CFPB issued a consent order against Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation for a number of issues relating to debt collection and repossession practices. In their release, the CFPB found that Nissan:

• wrongfully repossessed vehicles;

• kept personal property in consumers’ repossessed vehicles until consumers paid a storage fee;

• deprived consumers paying by phone of the ability to select payment options with significantly lower fees; and,

• in its loan extension agreements, made a deceptive statement that appeared to limit consumers’ bankruptcy protections.

In their release, the CFPB asserts that these practices resulted in UDAAP violations and the consent order requires Nissan to provide up to $1 million of cash redress to affected consumers, credit any outstanding account charges associated with wrongful reposession, and to pay a CMP of $4 million.

On 8/20/2020, the CFPB issued a settlement with TD Bank, N.A. regarding the marketing and sale of its overdraft program, known as Debit Card Advance (DCA), as well as violations of the FCRA. The consent order requires restitution to about 1.42 million consumers totaling $97 million as well as a $25 million civil money penalty.

On 7/24/2020, the CFPB issued consent orders against two California-based mortgage lenders: Sovereign Lending Group, Inc. (Sovereign) and Prime Choice Funding, Inc. (Prime Choice). According to the CFPB, both companies had violated UDAAP by mailing consumers advertisements for VA-guaranteed mortgages that contained false, misleading, and inaccurate statements or lacked required disclosures. The consent orders require the companies to pay civil money penalties and impose requirements to prevent future violations.

On 7/6/2020, the CFPB announced the filing of a lawsuit against My Loan Doctor LLC and its founder, Edgar Radjabli. In their release, the CFPB alleges that “Loan Doctor and Radjabli made several false, misleading, and inaccurate marketing representations in advertising Loan Doctor’s “Healthcare Finance (HCF) Savings CD Account,” in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s (CFPA) prohibition against deceptive acts or practices. As the Bureau’s complaint alleges, starting in August 2019, Loan Doctor took more than $15 million from at least 400 consumers who opened and deposited money into Loan Doctor’s deceptively advertised product.”

On 6/29/2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued an updated section to their Comptroller’s Handbook by releasing a new “Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices and Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices” booklet. In their release, the OCC explains that highlights of this booklet include…

On 5/22/2020, the CFPB - jointly with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey - filed a lawsuit against Commonwealth Equity Group, LLC, (which does business as Key Credit Repair) and Nikitas Tsoukales, Key Credit Repair’s president and owner. The complaint issued by the CFPB and Attorney General alleges that in their telemarketing of credit-repair services, the defendants violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s prohibition against deceptive acts or practices and the Telemarketing Sales Rule’s prohibitions on deceptive and abusive telemarketing acts or practices.

On April 1, 2020, the CFPB announced a settlement with Cottonwood Financial, Ltd., which does business under the name Cash Store, operating in several states and based in Texas. The CFPB found that in the course of marketing, servicing, and collecting on high-interest payday, auto-title, and unsecured consumer-installment loans Cash Store violated several consumer protection laws including the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and Truth in Lending Act (TILA). The consent order includes $1.3 million in monetary restitutions and fines.

On 3/9/2020, the CFPB announced that they filed a lawsuit against Fifth Third Bank for practices that appear to be similar to those Wells Fargo had allowed to occur within their organization. For example, the Bureau alleges that for several years Fifth Third