An Alabama-based payday lender on Thursday was ordered to return $500,000 to borrowers who were overcharged, a fine that was only a third of what the prior Obama-era head of the agency had sought.
The $1.5 million settlement between Triton Management Group Inc. and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was signed by President Donald Trump pick as the agency's interim director, Mick Mulvaney.
Richard Cordray, the former head of the bureau, had said that Triton's customers were owed about $1.5 million, and he wanted that money to be returned to consumers, according to the article “U.S. Agency Enters $1.5 Judgment on Payday Lender But Slashes Return of Funds.”
The agency entered a judgment of $1.5 million against Triton, a payday lender that operates in Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina, but the payback to borrowers will be $500,000 because Triton doesn’t have the funds, according to the consent order.
It’s the third time that Mulvaney has dropped or reduced consumer payouts from cases under his review.
Triton Management violated federal law by failing to disclose the finance charges of their auto title loans in Mississippi, according to the bureau. The bureau also found that Triton used advertisements that failed to disclose the annual percentage rate and other information required by federal law.
