- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) reached a settlement with reverse mortgage provider American Advisors Group (“AAG”) to resolve allegations that it engaged in deceptive conduct to market and sell its reverse mortgages in violation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Act”).
- The complaint, filed concurrently with the proposed consent order, alleges that AAG’s marketing materials deceptively inflated home estimates and falsely represented that AAG made every attempt to ensure that the home value information provided was reliable, and that AAG violated a December 2016 CFPB administrative consent order issued over a variety of allegedly deceptive statements in AAG’s marketing materials and prohibiting AAG from violating the Act for five years.
- Under the terms of the proposed consent order, AAG will pay nearly $1.3 million to the CFPB, including over $173,000 for consumer redress and a $1.1 million civil money penalty. AAG is also prohibited from misrepresenting any material facts, including estimated home values, and must submit for CFPB’s review certain marketing materials and a comprehensive compliance plan that details steps AAG will take to comply with the consent order, among other things.