I missed this last week: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau settled a case against Mark Corbett, a broker of contracts offering high-interest credit to veterans. The CFPB explained that it "found that Corbett violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 by misrepresenting to consumers that the contracts he facilitates are valid and enforceable when, in fact, the contracts are void because veterans’ pension payments are unassignable under federal law; misrepresenting to consumers that the offered product is a purchase of payments and not a high-interest credit offer; misrepresenting to consumers when they will receive their funds; and failing to disclose to consumers the applicable interest rate on the credit offer."
The penalty for this string of wrongdoing? Corbett agreed not to broker, offer, or arrange "agreements between veterans and third parties under which the veteran purports to sell a future right to an income stream from the veteran’s pension." And he will pay a civil penalty of $1.00.
Hmm. $1.00.
As the Center for Responsible Lending noted, this agreement came a few days after CFPB Director Kraninger announced that the CFPB will not monitor lenders to verify compliance with the Military Lending Act–a law that protects military servicemembers and their dependents from predatory loans.
