Advanced Pleadings Search

This session will discuss legal claims and strategies for dealing with long-dormant second mortgages that are suddenly back from the dead. We will discuss bringing claims in bankruptcy court and focus on FDCPA and UDAAP claims both in and out of bankruptcy court.

This action is brought by Plaintiff for actual damages, statutory damages, and civil penalties against the Defendant Central Credit Services, LLC (“Defendant”), for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692 et seq. (“FDCPA”) and the North Carolina Collection Agency Act, N.C.Gen.Stat. §§ 58‐70‐1 et seq. (“NCCAA”), which prohibit debt collectors and collection agencies from engaging in abusive, deceptive, and unfair practices.

Complaint and Demand for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief

This is an action under the Administrative Procedure Act for declaratory relief from Gainful Employment (“GE”) regulations of the U.S. Department of Education, 34 C.F.R. Part 668 Subpart Q, as applied to member schools of the American Association of Cosmetology Schools. The GE regulation assesses the outcomes of educational programs based on the ratio of graduates’ educational debt to earnings. Although the Department acknowledges that some graduates of cosmetology programs underreport their incomes, the Department has made no provision for such underreporting in its regulations.

Does the preemption of state usury laws enjoyed by national banks under the National Bank Act extend to non-bank debt buyers where, as here, the national bank retains no interest in or control over the subject accounts, and the national bank and the debt buyer are operationally and legally unrelated entities?

As demonstrated in the accompanying memorandum of points and authorities, and the Administrative Record (“AR”), the FDIC’s rule on the Federal Interest Rate Authority, 85 Fed. Reg. 44,146 (July 22, 2020) (“Final Rule”) represents a reasonable interpretation of 12 U.S.C. § 1831d, and should be upheld under Chevron’s familiar two-step framework. The Final Rule is neither arbitrary or capricious, nor contrary to law, is consistent with the FDIC’s authority, and in compliance with applicable procedural requirements.

States have long used interest-rate caps to prevent predatory lending. In light of the comprehensive federal regulatory regime to which national banks are subject, Congress exempted them from compliance with state rate caps in the National Bank Act (“NBA”). 12 U.S.C. § 85 (allowing national banks to “take, receive, reserve, and charge” interest in excess of state law); see also 12 U.S.C. § 1463(g)(1) (same for federal savings associations).

This is a case about federal overreach. States have long used interest-rate caps to protect consumers, business owners, and scrupulous creditors from the harms of predatory lending. The Federal Deposit Insurance Act (“FDIA”) exempts federally insured, state-chartered banks and insured branches of foreign banks (“FDIC Banks”) from these caps.

1. Elevate is on online lender that operates through several websites, including www.risecredit.com, www.elastic.com, and www.elevate.com, to provide predatory, high-interest, short-term loans to consumers that it describes as individuals “with little to no savings, urgent credit needs and limited options.”