On March 1, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal held that the assignee of a loan cannot be liable for the failure to provide a payoff statement as required by the Truth in Lending Act, 15 USC 1639g. The case is Evanto v. Federal National Mortgage Association, No. 15-11450 and it has wide reaching implications for all legal post-origination TILA compliance issues. The case revolves around what many consumer advocates argue is a loophole in the TILA statute. The TILA statue requires creditors and assignees alike to provide a payoff statement within seven days of the borrower's ...
Three weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court raised eyebrows when it granted certiorari in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, --- S.Ct. ---, 2015 WL 1879778 (Apr. 27, 2015), where it appears the Court will decide whether a consumer has "standing" to assert a cause of action for statutory damages without having suffered actual damage. The decision to grant certiorari in Spokeo was surprising given that the Court ducked the chance to address the same issue several years ago, as discussed in our recent blog post "Will the U.S. Supreme Court Use Robins v. Spokeo to Finally Address "Standing" in the ...
The United States Supreme Court recently held in Jesinoski v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., et al., 574 U.S. -- (2015), that the Truth in Lending Act's ("TILA") rescission provision, 15 U.S.C. § 1635, does not require a borrower to file a lawsuit within the three-year time period under 15 U.S.C. § 1635(f) in order to rescind. The Jesinoski borrowers had refinanced their mortgage in 2007. Exactly three years later, the borrowers sent their lender and loan servicer a letter purporting to rescind the transaction. The lender and loan servicer refused to acknowledge the rescission. One ...
On October 5, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee analyzed the interplay between the debt collection industry and certain provisions of the Truth-in-Lending Act ("TILA") that require "creditors" to send monthly account statements to borrowers. In King v. AllianceOne Receivables Mgmt., Inc., No. 2:12-CV-314, 2012 WL 4758220, at 2-3 (E.D. Tenn. Oct. 5, 2012), the defendant debt collector sent a collection letter on behalf of the creditor. The letter stated:
As of the date of this letter, you owe $888.45. Your account balance may be periodically ...