On February 27, the CFPB voluntarily dismissed, with prejudice, five additional enforcement actions it filed during the Biden administration:

• An enforcement action filed on January 14 against a large national bank alleging that the bank misrepresented the savings rate for a deposit product. The court closed the case prior to the defendant filing a reply.
• An enforcement action filed on January 6 against a large manufactured home financing company alleging the lender violated TILA and Regulation Z’s ability-to-repay provisions. The defendant in this case had not yet answered or otherwise responded to the complaint, but the CFPB filed its notice of dismissal.
• An enforcement action filed on December 23, 2024, against a larger mortgage originator and real estate brokers alleging violations of RESPA’s prohibition on providing or receiving a thing of value in exchange for the referral of real estate settlement services. The defendants in this case had recently moved to dismiss the complaint in its entirety, and the court closed the case.
• An enforcement action filed on May 31, 2024, against a student loan servicer alleging unfair, deceptive and abusive acts or practices and violations of the FCRA in the course of servicing federal student loans. The defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint, which the CFPB had opposed last fall, was still pending when the CFPB voluntarily dismissed the case.
• An enforcement action filed August 22, 2023, against a high-cost installment lender alleging unfair and abusive conduct in relation to the lender’s underwriting, sales, and servicing practices. The defendants have answered the complaint, and the parties had been engaged in discovery before the court granted a joint motion to stay the case for 60 days on February 10 of this year. The parties submitted their joint stipulation of voluntary dismissal.

All enforcement actions were filed in federal courts, as opposed to using administrative law judges, which was noteworthy given DOJ’s recent position on viewing the administrative law judge process as unconstitutional (covered by InfoBytes here).

By dismissing the cases with prejudice, the CFPB has agreed it prevents them from filing a future lawsuit for the same conduct against these defendants. During the last Trump administration, the CFPB voluntarily dismissed a single case against tribal payday lenders, but that dismissal was without prejudice, and the CFPB subsequently engaged in further investigation of the entity. The CFPB did not issue a comment regarding the dismissals, some of which were filed during the nomination hearing of Jonathan McKernan to serve as the Director of the CFPB.