6 Recent Lawsuits Lenders Should Learn From
It can be tough to find the information you need to keep your organization up to date with the latest regulatory and legal developments. In some industries, that’s because the information made public is scant and tailored to a specialized audience. In other industries, it’s because of a firehose-like outpouring of stories, opinions, and state and federal updates—that is, too much information, arriving too quickly.
The powersports industry is definitely among the latter. In addition to the unique business challenges that come with selling motorcycles, ATVs, and other powersports vehicles, there’s the whole host of questions (which we’ve covered on this blog and in webinars numerous times before) related to compliance: turnover, health and safety regulations, and, of course, fair lending issues.
How should a powersports lender make sense of the current regulatory climate and prioritize? Powersports Finance’s Natalie Mattila writes:
Powersports lenders are already on regulators’ radars, because they have been particularly focused on the auto finance industry, and the powersports industry is considered by many as a subset of auto finance.
As such, lenders can learn from litigation in auto finance and peripheral markets to bolster compliance practices and prepare for increased regulatory attention.
To that end, the outlet has collected a few recent, pivotal lawsuits that powersports lenders— (and every kind of lender) should be paying attention to right now. For instance, did you hear about this recent case, which led to a $1.2 million fine?
Security National Automotive Acceptance Co. (SNAAC) was issued a consent order by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in April, claiming the lender did not properly repay military service members harmed in a 2015 consent order from the bureau, and instead rewarded “worthless credits” to the consumers.
SNAAC offered to “pay all the disputed amounts in order to move forward,” after it discovered there was an issue with the refunds from the 2015 consent order, but the CFPB declined, and instead opened an inquiry, the lender said in a statement sent to sister publication Auto Finance News. SNAAC said it fully cooperated with the investigation and has decided to pay all fees “without admitting” to the CFPB’s findings.
Read about the SNAAC consent order, Mensie v. Toyota, TransUnion’s settlement with the CFPB, and 3 other important legal decisions at powersportsfinance.com.
