WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission has sent its annual report to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on its enforcement and related activities in 2022 on the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), Consumer Leasing Act (CLA), and Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA).
According to the FTC, the report highlights its enforcement actions related to the acts and their implementing regulations, including in the areas of automobile purchases and financing, payday lending, credit repair and debt relief, other credit, and electronic fund transfers:
-
Automobile Purchase and Financing: The report notes the FTC’s settlement with Illinois-based dealership group Napleton in April 2022, for violating the FTC Act by charging junk fees to consumers for unwanted add-ons such as payment insurance and paint protection costing consumers hundreds or thousands of dollars, and for violating TILA by advertising $90 down on mailers without disclosing or clearly and conspicuously disclosing the terms of repayment or APR. Among other things, the settlement led to $9.8 million in redress being sent to consumers in November 2022. The report also notes the Commission’s ongoing litigation against Traffic Jam Events, and refund payments sent to consumers in 2022 in the Bronx Honda and Tate’s Auto cases.
-
Payday Lending: The report highlights the $970,000 refund mailing as a result of the FTC’s case against Harvest Moon Financial for overcharging consumers millions of dollars, deceiving them about the terms of their loans and failing to make required loan disclosures, in violation of the FTC Act and TILA, and with making withdrawals from consumers’ checking accounts without authorization, in violation of the FTC Act and EFTA.
-
Credit Repair and Debt Relief: The report discusses the FTC’s $822,000 refund mailing as a result of its action against Student Advocates Team, a student loan debt relief scheme charged with falsely promising consumers it could lower or eliminate student loan balances, illegally imposing upfront fees for credit repair services, and signing consumers up for high-interest loans to pay the fees without making required loan disclosures, in violation of the FTC Act and TILA.
- Other Credit: The report notes the FTC’s case with 18 state partners against Harris Jewelry, charged with cheating military families with illegal financing and sales practices that violated the FTC Act, TILA, Military Lending Act (its first such case), EFTA, and numerous other federal and state requirements.
Additional Highlights
The report also highlights multiple rulemakings currently under way, including a proposed rule to ban junk fees and bait-and-switch advertising tactics that can plague consumers throughout the car-buying experience, as well as an advance notice of proposed rulemaking exploring a rule to crack down on junk fees proliferating throughout the economy. The report also notes the 2022 FTC staff report on dark patterns.
Make Sure You’re Receiving CUToday.info’s Free Daily Newsletter Headlines
Are you missing out on the latest news in credit unions? Missing the trends and developments you need to be aware of? We can help. Each morning CUToday.info delivers its daily Fresh Today news update offering the latest headlines and breaking news right to your email, with the easy-to-read headlines format allowing you to click on the stories that interest you most in order to learn more.
And it’s free!
If you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time—and it’s free!
Please note that after signing up you may need to go to your Spam/Junk folder and mark the morning headlines email as safe. CUToday.info does not provide its list of readers and emails to outside parties, and we will not be contacting you to sell you an extended warranty or sending you any links so you may cash in on an inheritance you didn’t know was coming.
And did we mention it’s free?
Please note and/or make your IT department or email administrator aware the emails will be coming from the domains CUTodayinfo.com and CUTodayinfoReply.com.