On March 27, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that a New Jersey-based crypto lending platform has agreed to provide more than $100,000 in refunds to California residents. The refunds, subject to bankruptcy court approval, stem from the lender’s conduct following the collapse of a major crypto exchange last November. As previously covered by InfoBytes, in December, DFPI moved to revoke the lender’s California Financing Law license following an examination, which found that the lender “failed to perform adequate underwriting when making loans and failed to consider borrowers’ ability to repay these loans, in violation of California’s financing laws and regulations.” At the time the lender announced it was limiting platform activity and pausing client withdrawals. The lender eventually filed a petition for chapter 11 bankruptcy. An investigation also revealed that due to the lender’s failure to timely notify borrowers that they could stop repaying their loans, borrowers remitted at least $103,471 in loan repayments to the lender’s servicer while they were unable to withdraw funds and collateral from the platform. A hearing on the lender’s petition to direct its servicer to return borrowers’ loan repayments is scheduled for April 19.
The lender agreed to an interim suspension of its lending license while the bankruptcy and revocation actions are pending. It also agreed to a final order to discontinue unsafe or injurious practices, as well as a desist and refrain order. Among other things, the lender has agreed to continue to direct its agents to pause collection of repayments on loans belonging to California residents while its license is suspended (including turning off autopay), will continue to set interest rates to 0 percent, and continue to not levy any late fees associated with any payments or report any loans that became delinquent or defaulted on or after November 11, 2022, to credit reporting agencies while the bankruptcy and revocation actions are pending.
