Last week, by a vote of 22-14 (with one Republican voting for the bill), the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 1423, the “Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act.”  A Senate companion bill (S. 610) was introduced in February 2019 and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  No action has been taken on the Senate bill. The House bill would amend the Federal Arbitration Act to provide that “no predispute arbitration agreement or predispute…

In less than a year, pre-dispute arbitration agreements will be clearly permissible again now that the Department of Education has finalized its proposal to rescind the Obama administration’s “Borrower Defense” rule issued in November 2016 and replace it with “Institutional Accountability Regulations.”  The final regulations are effective July 1, 2020 and apply to loans disbursed on or after that date. Loans disbursed before July 1, 2020 are subject to the borrower defense provisions in either the…

In its recently published Summer 2019 Newsletter, the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (“DFI”) reported that it had interpreted the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”) broadly to apply the SCRA’s 6% interest rate cap to a loan agreement entered into only by a servicemember’s spouse.  Generally, the SCRA provides for a 6% interest rate cap during the period of military service for non-mortgage obligations and liabilities “incurred by a servicemember, or the servicemember…

The Colorado Attorney General reached a $175,263 settlement with a lender and a debt management company that are owned and operated by the same individuals. The Colorado Attorney General alleged the companies violated Colorado law when the lender issued loans to customers of the related debt management company. Colorado law prohibits debt management companies from offering loans through a related company due to the risk of a conflict of interest. The settlement agreement requires the…

On September 6, 2019, the Bureau filed a complaint in federal court in the Central District of California against Certified Forensic Loan Auditors, LLC (CFLA) and Andrew Lehman (Lehman) in connection with their offering, advertising, marketing, and selling of purported financial advisory and mortgage assistance relief services, and against Michael Carrigan (Carrigan), who was CFLA’s sole auditor during the relevant time period.  Among the services offered were securitization audits, which included legal conclusions and recommendations,…

The OCC and FDIC have filed a joint amicus brief in a Colorado federal district court arguing that the court should affirm the decision of a bankruptcy court holding that a non-bank loan assignee could charge the same interest rate the bank assignor could charge under Section 27(a) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, 12 U.S.C. § 1831d(a), despite the Second Circuit’s decision in Madden v. Midland Funding (which we have criticized.) The loan in question…

Two recent Circuit Court opinions have significantly undermined the FTC’s powers under Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA).  These pivotal decisions may ultimately require the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify Section 13(b)’s boundaries. First, in FTC v. Shire Viropharma, Inc., the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that in order to file a suit under Section 13(b), the agency must include specific allegations that a defendant “is violating or about to…