In November 2013, the CFPB issued a consent order to Cash America International, “one of the countrys largest payday lenders,” for engaging in deceiving debt-collection tactics, such as “robo-signing.” The CFPB determined that the company told employees to “stamp a lawyer’s signature on court documents used to sue customers for past-due debts, a practice which affected at least 14,397 Americans. Additionally, the CFPB claimed that Cash America charged “active-duty service members and their families more than 36 percent interest on payday loans, a violation of the Military Lending Act. Cash America agreed to pay a “$5 million civil penalty,” to repay $14 million to customers, and to “develop better compliance-management systems.”

• In 2013, the CFPB issued a consent order to Cash America International, Inc. [CFPB file no. 2013-CFPB-0008 (Cash America International, Inc.), filed 11/20/13]

• The CFPB ordered Cash America, “one of the countrys largest payday lenders,” to pay $19 million in restitution and fines for “robo-signing,” or having employees “stamp a lawyer’s signature on court documents used to sue customers for past-due debts. The CFBP claimed “robo-signing” affected “at least 14,397 Americans.”

Cashland Financial Services, a Cash America subsidiary, “had been rapidly signing off on legal documents to obtain judgments against customers – a practice that was widely documented in foreclosure cases.”

The CFPB claimed that Cash America charged “active-duty service members and their families more than 36 percent interest on payday loans,” which is a violation of the Military Lending Act.

At a Cash America subsidiary, Enova Financial, “CFPB officials found that employees were overcharging members of the military.”

In 2012, CFPB conducted a review of Cash America; however, employees allegedly “were instructed to shred files and erase calls.” The CFPB also claimed that “employees confessed that managers had also coached them on what to say to examiners.”

As part of the agreement, Cash America was ordered to repay $14 million to “borrowers who were subject to faulty debt-collection lawsuits in Ohio from 2008 to January 2013.” They were also ordered to pay a “$5 million civil penalty and develop better compliance-management systems.” [Danielle Douglas, “Payday lender Cash America fined over claims of robo-signing, gouging military members,” The Washington Post, 11/21/13]