Going Back To 2011? CFPB Asserts No SOL For Administrative UDAAP Actions

On January 15, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") Office of Enforcement ("Enforcement") asserted that claims pursued in administrative enforcement actions are not subject to the three-year statute of limitations ("SOL") set forth in the Consumer Financial Protection Act ("CFPA"), signaling that the agency is willing to target long-ago violations when seeking restitution and penalties. The CFPA – also known as Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act – is the statute that empowers the CFPB to administratively enforce the federal consumer financial laws.

The Integrity Advance enforcement proceeding involves conduct that allegedly stopped in December 2012. The CFPB alleged that a payday lender misled consumers by disclosing that loans could be repaid in a single payment when, in fact, the loans would roll over automatically because payments were applied to finance charges instead of to principal. The CFPB also alleged