Washington bank pays $500K for UDAP and RESPA violations

The FDIC issued a consent order for assessment of a $500,000 civil money penalty against First Fed Bank, Port Angeles, WA, after determining the Bank violated the following:

1. Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. §45(a)(1), by making implied claims that credit products with non-optional debt cancellation features were unemployment insurance, approving consumers who did not qualify for the debt cancellation feature, and misrepresenting the fees and benefits for those products;
2. Section 8(a) of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”), 12 U.S.C. §2607(a), and 12 C.F.R. §1024.14(b), by entering into mortgage lead generation arrangements with a real estate brokerage firm and the operator of an online loan marketplace that were used to facilitate and disguise referral payments for mortgage business.