b'the value of their vehicle through insurance, Lobela Texas-based auto lender offering a loan payment would add loss damage waiver coverage to borrowersprogram that automatically deducts payments from accounts and charge borrowers $70 per month forconsumers bank accounts at periodic intervals and the coverage. Lobel would then cease providingforwards those payments to consumers creditors. the loss damage waiver coverage when borrowersThe CFPB alleged that SMARTs disclosure statements became 10or more days delinquent on their auto loan.purported to show amounts that consumers could save However, the CFPB alleged that Lobel continued toby using SMART, when in fact SMARTs fees typically charge borrowers premiums after they had becomeexceeded the borrowers savings. SMART agreed to 10days delinquent even though coverage had ceased.pay $1.5 million in consumer redress and $1 million in The CFPB alleged that Lobels conduct was unfaircivil money penalties to resolve potential claims. under the CFPA because Lobel charged borrowers for a service that borrowers did not receive. To resolveU.S. Equity Advantage and Its Founder Agree to Pay these allegations Lobel agreed to pay $1.35 million$900,000 to Resolve Alleged UDAAP Violationsin consumer relief to 4,000 affected consumers andIn November, the CFPB entered into a consent order $100,000 in civil money penalties.with U.S. Equity Advantage, a Florida-based company offering an auto loan payment program, and its founder, Nissan to Pay $5 Million to Resolve Allegedresolving alleged UDAAP violations. The CFPB alleged UDAAPViolations that U.S. Equity Advantage misrepresented the amounts In October, the CFPB entered into a consent order withthat consumers could save through using the loan Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation, an auto financepayment program by failing to disclose fees, including subsidiary of Nissan, for alleged UDAAP violations.enrollment fees. Further, the CFPB alleged that U.S. The CFPB alleged that Nissan repossessed hundredsEquity Advantage inaccurately advertised that it could of vehicles, despite the consumers accounts beinghelp consumers save money without having any factual current, and that Nissan demanded that consumers paybasis for that claim. U.S. Equity Advantage agreed to pay a separate storage fee for personal property contained$900,000 in consumer relief to resolve potential claims. in repossessed vehicles. Further, the CFPB alleged that Nissan made deceptive statements in many loanCalifornia DBO (Now DFPI) Launches Investigation extension agreements that created the erroneousof LoanMart Over True Lender Issuesimpression that consumers could not file for bankruptcy.In September, the California Department of Business Under the consent order, Nissan agreed to payOversight (DBO), now the DFPI, launched a formal $1million in consumer redress to consumers subject toinvestigation into LoanMart, one of the largest wrongful repossession and to credit any outstandingstate-licensed auto title lenders operating in California. charges from wrongful repossessions. Nissan alsoThe DBO said that it was investigating LoanMart for agreed to pay a $4 million civil money penalty to thepotential evasions of Californias new interest rate CFPB. The consent order further requires Nissan tocaps. Under the Fair Access to Credit Act, effective prohibit its repossession agents from charging personalJanuary1,2020, the maximum interest rate for most property fees. types of loans is 36%. But the Fair Access to Credit Act applies only to loans issued by California lenders. CFPB Settles with SMART Payment Plan overAccording to the DBO, instead of complying with that Allegedly Misleading Statements Made to Consumers law, LoanMart partnered with out-of-state CCBank, In November, the CFPB entered into a consentbased in Utah, to originate auto title loans at interest order with SMART Payment Plan, LLC (SMART), rates exceeding 90%. DBO stated that the purpose of 49'