On August 4, 2015, the CFPB announced that it filed a lawsuit in federal district court against NDG Enterprise (NDG), a complex web of commonly controlled companies, for collecting money consumers did not owe. The complaint alleges that NDG violated the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act's prohibition on unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices.
NDG originates and collects payday loans over the Internet to consumers in all 50 states. The complaint alleges that NDG originated, serviced, and collected payday loans that were void in whole or in part under state law in seventeen states under state licensing regulations or usury caps. NDG's unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices were numerous, and included, according to the complaint:
- Making false threats to consumers by threatening lawsuits, arrest, imprisonment, or wage garnishment, without legal authority to take those actions.
- Deceiving consumers about their debts by telling the consumer to repay a loan that, under state law, the consumer had no obligation to pay.
- Using illegal wage-assignment clauses in the loan agreements that allowed NDG to take payments directly from consumers' employers' payroll accounts.
Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB may seek monetary relief and damages, and a prohibition on unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices.
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