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Top Story Compliance Related

01/25/2017

FTC bans operators of student loan debt relief scheme

The Federal Trade Commission has announced the issuance of a stipulated final order resolving charges the Commission and the State of Florida brought in April 2016 against Chastity Valdes and her companies, Consumer Assistance LLC, Consumer Assistance Project Corp., and Palermo Global LLC. The defendants allegedly lured borrowers with false promises of eliminating their student loan debts and repairing their credit, and then charged illegal up-front fees; and posted positive online reviews of their services to appear as if customers wrote them.

01/25/2017

OCC supplements exam procedures

The OCC has issued Bulletin 2017-7 on examination procedures supplementing OCC Bulletin 2013-29, “Third-Party Relationships: Risk Management Guidance,” issued October 30, 2013. The supplemental procedures promote consistency when examining national banks and federal savings associations' risk management of third-party relationships. These procedures are designed to help examiners:

  • tailor the examination of each bank commensurate with the level of risk and complexity of the bank’s third-party relationships
  • assess the quantity of the bank’s risk associated with its third-party relationships
  • assess the quality of the bank’s risk management of third-party relationships involving critical activities
  • determine whether there is an effective risk management process throughout the life cycle of the third-party relationship

01/25/2017

Regulators hit ServiceLink Holdings with $65M CMP

The federal banking agencies (FRB,FDIC, and OCC) have levied a $65M civil money penalty on ServiceLink Holdings, LLC (ServiceLink Holdings), for improper actions by its predecessor company, Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) that resulted in significant deficiencies in the foreclosure-related services that LPS provided to mortgage servicers. See "ServiceLink Holdings LLC fined $65M" in our Penalties pages for additional information.

01/24/2017

Citi subs pay $28.8M for mortgage servicing violations

The CFPB has announced it has taken separate actions against CitiFinancial Servicing and CitiMortgage, Inc.. subsidiaries of Citigroup, Inc., for giving the runaround to struggling homeowners seeking options to save their homes. The mortgage servicers kept borrowers in the dark about options to avoid foreclosure or burdened them with excessive paperwork demands in applying for foreclosure relief, according to the Bureau's press release. The CFPB is requiring CitiMortgage to pay an estimated $17 million to compensate wronged consumers, and pay a civil penalty of $3 million; and requiring CitiFinancial Services to refund approximately $4.4 million to consumers, and pay a civil penalty of $4.4 million. For additional information, see "Citigroup subs pay for mortgage servicing practices," in our Penalties pages.

01/24/2017

Winter 2017 FDIC Consumer News posted

The FDIC has posted the Winter 2017 issue of FDIC Consumer News, which focuses on common concerns the regulator hears from consumers and offers tips for solving and avoiding problems. Some topics include:

  • What to do if a credit card bill shows a charge you did not make
  • Where to go for help if you can't access funds on your prepaid card
  • How to handle an email that appears to be from your bank and that asks for personal information
  • Understanding your options if you're turned down for a checking account

01/23/2017

NCUA adjusts civil money penalties

The NCUA has published at 82 FR 7637 an interim final rule amending its regulations at 12 CFR Part 747 to adjust the maximum amount of each civil money penalty within its jurisdiction, as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The rule is effective upon publication, with a comment period of 30 days, ending on February 22, 2017.

The adjusted maximums reflect the application of a multiplier of 1.01636 to the maximum amounts in effect since mid-2016, when the first adjustments under the Adjustment Act were made. The multiplier is used to increase annually the maximums by the percentage by which the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the year immediately preceding the year the adjustment is made exceeds the CPI-U for October of the prior year.

01/23/2017

Outlook Live Consumer Compliance Update webinar

The Federal Reserve has issued an invitation to its Outlook Live webinar – Consumer Compliance Regulatory Update. The free webinar will be held on February 2, 2017, 2-3 p.m. ET. Senior Federal Reserve staff will be hosting the webinar to highlight some of the recent regulatory changes that have recently gone into effect, changes that will go into effect in 2017, and rules that are currently being considered by the Federal bank regulatory agencies. The presentation will be followed with a Questions and Answers segment, to respond to audience questions.

POSTPONED: The Federal Reserve has announced that the webinar has been postponed.

01/20/2017

Treasury statement on succession

The Department of the Treasury released late on Thursday evening, a statement attributed to a Treasury Spokesperson:

"To ensure the smooth continuity of leadership at the Department of the Treasury, Acting Under Secretary Adam Szubin will serve as Acting Secretary of the Treasury, effective January 20, 2017. He will serve in that capacity until a new Secretary is confirmed and in place. At that point, Mr. Szubin will leave government service to pursue other endeavors."

01/20/2017

Financial services company pays $500K for impeding whistleblowers

The SEC has announced that Seattle-based financial services company HomeStreet Inc. has agreed to pay a $500,000 penalty to settle charges that it conducted improper hedge accounting and later took steps to impede potential whistleblowers. In addition, HomeStreet’s treasurer, Darrell van Amen, agreed to pay a $20,000 penalty to settle charges that he caused the accounting violations.

01/20/2017

Western Union pays $586M for fraud and money laundering

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that the Western Union Company, a global money services business headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, has agreed to forfeit $586 million and enter into agreements with the Federal Trade Commission, the Justice Department, and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the Central District of California, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Southern District of Florida. In its agreement with the Justice Department, Western Union admits to criminal violations including willfully failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and aiding and abetting wire fraud. The forfeited money will fund restitution payments to consumers who were harmed by the company's unlawful actions.

In a related action, FinCEN announced it has issued a consent assessment of a civil money penalty of $184 million against Western Union Financial Services, Inc. (WUFSI). WUFSI consented to FinCEN’s determination that prior to 2012, WUFSI willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act’s anti-money laundering (AML) requirements by failing to implement and maintain an effective, risk-based AML program and by failing to file timely suspicious activity reports (SARs). FinCEN’s penalty is in conjunction with the actions by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and will be satisfied by Western Union's forfeiture to the U.S. Treasury.

For further details on this story, see "Western Union forfeits $586M for AML violations and consumer fraud," in our Penalties pages.

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