CFPB Issues Consent Order for Regulation Z Advertising Violations

John Zasada, Compliance Consulting Director, Financial Institutions Group

On August 21, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a consent order against a mortgage broker for regulatory violations including Regulation Z advertising requirements. The 49-page consent order with Go Direct Lenders, Inc. (Go Direct) describes how many Go Direct mortgage advertisements contained a period of repayment but failed to include required triggered disclosures. For example, Go Direct advertisements sent to about 34,000 consumers in May 2018 advertising a mortgage for a “15-year term in an amount up to $453,100.” Although these advertisements stated the period of repayment, they did not disclose the consumer’s repayment obligations over the full term of the loan. In addition, numerous Go Direct mortgage advertisements for a loan for which more than one interest rate would apply stated a simple annual rate of interest, but failed to state an accurate APR for the loan because the stated APR was not correctly calculated under Regulation Z.