The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been on a two-month enforcement tear aimed at mortgage lenders employing deceptive practices in the VA mortgage lending area. The Bureau has issued consent orders against six companies since late July in what it terms a “sweep” in response to concerns about potentially unlawful advertising in the market that the VA identified. CFPB found the companies had sent direct-mail advertisements primarily to military servicemembers and veterans that contained false, misleading, and inaccurate statements or lacked required disclosures. The complaints set forth similar instances of violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s (CFPA) prohibition against deceptive acts and practices, the Mortgage Acts and Practices – Advertising Rule (MAP Rule), and Regulation Z. The companies are variously accused of using advertisements that misrepresented advertised loans by stating credit terms that the company was not actually prepared to offer to the consumer such as describing an introductory interest rate as fixed when it was instead adjustable.
…(read more)