A US banking regulator says $384 million will soon be handed to victims of an online bank’s illegal practices. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says 191,000 people will receive the windfall of cash, which will be given to former customers of Texas-based Think Finance. The agency filed a lawsuit against the lender in 2017, accusing
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued SoLo Funds, alleging that the online lending platform used “digital dark patterns” to illegally collect fees from borrowers. The lawsuit also alleged that SoLo Funds misrepresented the cost of loans, made false threats, collected money consumers didn’t owe, and created a credit scoring model with no safeguards, the agency said in a Friday (May 17) press
Bread Financial Holdings (NYSE:BFH) shares are up more than 55% over the past 12 months. Prior to its recent first-quarter update, the consumer finance company had outperformed consensus earnings estimates for six consecutive quarters. Given the momentum, the former $300 stock may seem like a worthwhile investment. However, a challenging consumer spending environment may continue
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Monday filed a complaint against two major private student loan servicers, alleging failure to address borrowers’ requests. The CFPB accused the National Collegiate Student Loan Trust (NCSLT), a group of 15 securitization trusts, and the loan servicer Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) of failing to respond to
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued an order against coding bootcamp BloomTech, also known as the Bloom Institute of Technology, and its CEO, Austen Allred, alleging that they deceived students about the real cost of loans and made false claims about the hiring rates of the bootcamp’s graduates. The order permanently bans BloomTech from all consumer-lending activities; bans Allred
The Biden administration is expanding its crackdown on junk fees, this time setting its sights on the mortgage industry. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) cites particular concern about the rising costs of home purchase loans, which surged nearly 22% from 2021 to 2022. In other words, closing costs rose nearly $1,000 to an average
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau detailed in its 2023 Consumer Response Annual Report that consumers have been the targets of fraudulent account openings, and installment loans were the most cited type of personal lending in complaints. The report, released Friday (March 29), noted that complaints about credit or consumer reporting accounted for more than 81%