WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced its supervisory actions in the first four months of 2016 revealed illegal auto finance and payment activity that led to close to $24.5 million in restitution to more than 257,000 consumers.
The CFPB’s report also discusses issues in the business of auto loan origination, debt collection, mortgage origination and small-dollar lending.
“This report highlights our ongoing work to address violations of the law and slipshod practices that endanger consumers,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “The bureau’s supervisors continue to perform more and better oversight of these financial markets, and their report gives the industry an opportunity to reflect on their practices before consumers are made to suffer harm.”
The CFPB can look into mortgage companies, private student lenders and payday lenders through authority granted via the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Issues found by the CFPB in an array of financial markets include deception by auto lenders about loan terms, incorrect calculation of loan financing amounts, failure to properly disclose interest on interest-only loans, ineligible accounts sold to debt sellers, debt repayment options that misled consumers, failure to provide adverse action notices, and illegal requirements forcing consumers to use an affiliated business.