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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is taking action against Carrington Mortgage Services for deceptive acts or practices under the Consumer Financial Protection Act in connection with mortgage forbearances, according to a CFPB press release. The CFPB found that Carrington failed to implement many protections, provided to borrowers with federally backed mortgage loans who were experiencing financial hardship, during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The CFPB found that Carrington misled certain homeowners who had sought a forbearance under the CARES Act into paying improper late fees, deceived consumers about forbearance and repayment options, and inaccurately reported the forbearance status of borrowers to the big three credit-reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The CFPB is ordering Carrington to repay any late fees not already refunded, repair its faulty business practices, and pay a $5.25 million penalty that will be deposited into the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

A temporary tax break for small businesses has spawned a cottage industry of advisory firms tapping into federal pandemic aid, raising alarms at the Internal Revenue Service that some claims are going beyond what the law allows, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Paycheck Protection Program and other federal aid programs long ago shut their doors. But small businesses and nonprofits battered by COVID-19 can still use a lesser-known lifeline, the employee-retention tax credit, or ERC. Businesses can claim up to $26,000 per employee in refunds by amending payroll tax returns from 2020 and 2021. An array of firms have popped up with the express goal of getting more businesses to file ERC claims. They are using radio spots, online ads and cold calls to compete with one another and with traditional accounting firms, payroll companies and tax credit specialists. The IRS has already paid out more than $58 billion in ERC claims.

Credit-card debt recently reached a new milestone: It returned to where it was before the pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported. Total card balances in the U.S. hit $916 billion in September, nearly identical to December 2019 levels, according to the credit-reporting firm Equifax Inc. Balances are up 9% from January and about 23% higher than their pandemic low in April 2021. Card balances fell sharply in the early months of the pandemic after Americans, out of work and stuck at home, cut back on spending. Stimulus checks later padded savings accounts and allowed many to pay down costly debt. When the economy reopened and people went back to work, credit-card issuers launched a big push to get people borrowing again. Many loosened underwriting standards, making it easier for people with lower credit scores to get cards. Now, Americans are spending and borrowing, despite fears that a recession is on the horizon. Missed payments on credit cards, while rising, remain below prepandemic levels.

As many as 10 million people may still be entitled to receive a COVID-19 stimulus payment, the government’s internal watchdog said yesterday, The Hill reported. Americans with little or no income, who are not required to pay taxes, have until Nov. 15 to complete a simplified tax return in order to get their stimulus checks, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a blog post. “Throughout the pandemic, IRS and Treasury struggled to get COVID-relief payments into the hands of some people — especially those with lower-incomes, limited internet access, or experiencing homelessness. Based on IRS and Treasury data, there could be between 9-10 million eligible individuals who have not yet received those payments,” the agency said. The GAO found that people who don’t have to file tax returns, first-time filers, mixed-immigrant-status families and people experiencing homelessness were among those likely to have not received a payment owed to them. Over the course of several payments delivered through legislation enacted under both the Trump and Biden administrations, $931 billion went out to Americans to help with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. However, the GAO described this process as “challenging for the IRS and Treasury.”