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A Philadelphia mortgage lender owned by Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to pay $24 million to resolve lending discrimination claims in three states, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday, in what prosecutors have called the second-largest “redlining” settlement in the agency’s history, the Washington Post reported. Trident Mortgage Co. failed to provide mortgage lending services to neighborhoods of color in the Philadelphia metro area, which includes neighborhoods in Camden, N.J., and Wilmington, Del., from at least 2015 to 2019, federal officials said. The company engaged in a host of discriminatory practices, such as concentrating offices in majority-White neighborhoods and excluding qualified families from receiving credit. The complaint alleged that loan officers and other employees sent and received work emails containing racial slurs and demeaning references to communities of color, the department said. As part of the agreement to resolve the allegations, Trident will invest more than $20 million to increase credit opportunities in neighborhoods of color in the region, the department said. Because the company no longer operates a lending business, it will contract with another company to provide loan subsidies and services to the affected communities in and around Philadelphia, Camden and Wilmington. Trident also agreed to pay a $4 million civil penalty.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on June 13 released its annual report on the top financial concerns facing servicemembers, veterans, and military families, based on the complaints they submitted to the CFPB, according to a press release. Servicemembers told the CFPB about billing inaccuracies and that debt collectors used aggressive tactics to recover allegedly unpaid medical bills. Servicemembers also reported failures by credit reporting companies in helping to resolve inaccuracies and other credit reporting issues. “Errors on credit reports can jeopardize servicemembers’ financial readiness, and ultimately, their ability to protect our nation,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “No servicemember, veteran, or military family should be subject to credit reporting rumors and innuendo, nor should they feel coerced to pay a bill they do not owe.” Servicemembers, veterans, and military families have now submitted more than 250,000 consumer complaints since the CFPB began collecting complaints in 2011. In 2021, they submitted more than 42,000 complaints to the CFPB. The most common types of complaints — more than 60% — were about credit reporting and debt collection.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has taken action against the owner of a student-loan debt relief company for allegedly withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars from student borrowers’ bank accounts, without authorization, according to a press release on the agency’s website. The CFPB alleges that Frank Gebase, Jr. controlled a company that took the borrowers’ money after obtaining their names and account information from a previous student-loan debt-relief scammer that the CFPB shut down. The CFPB’s proposed settlement, if entered by the court, would ban Gebase from the debt-relief industry and order him to pay a penalty. On March 30, 2016, the CFPB ordered Student Aid Institute to shut down its debt-relief operations and rescind all of its consumer agreements. Gebase had leased office space to Student Aid Institute, and he was a longtime associate of its principal. In 2016, Gebase founded Processingstudentloans in San Diego, and he was the founder, sole owner, CEO, and sole corporate officer. The CFPB alleges that from approximately May 20, 2016 to April 5, 2017, Processingstudentloans was a non-bank provider of student-loan debt-relief services. As alleged in the complaint, without authorization, Processingstudentloans collected recurring fees from customers, typically $39 per month, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in total fees from hundreds of student loan borrowers. In addition to controlling Processingstudentloans and facilitating the debits, Gebase was aware or should have known that the debits were unauthorized and unlawful. By April 2017, under this scheme, Gebase’s company had unlawfully debited more than $240,000 from hundreds of student borrowers’ accounts.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized an enforcement action against Bank of America for processing illegal, out-of-state garnishment orders against its customers’ bank accounts. Bank of America unlawfully froze customer accounts, charged garnishment fees, garnished funds, and sent payments to creditors based on out-of-state garnishment court orders that should have been processed under the laws and protections of the states where the consumers lived, according to a CFPB press release. Bank of America also violated the law by inserting unfair and unenforceable language into customer contracts that purported to limit customers’ rights to challenge garnishments. The CFPB’s order requires Bank of America to refund or cancel imposed fees from unlawful garnishments, review and reform its system for processing garnishments, and pay a $10 million civil penalty. Since August 1, 2011, Bank of America unlawfully garnished at least 3,700 out-of-state accounts, and the customers whose accounts were garnished have paid at least $592,000 in garnishment fees. The CFPB found that Bank of America engaged in unfair and deceptive acts and practices that resulted in money from customers’ bank accounts being frozen or taken when the garnishments were not permissible under the state laws where the accounts were located.