Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sues Vanderbilt Mortgage over alleged ability-to-repay violations in manufactured home lending

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed suit against Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, alleging the nonbank lender set borrowers up to fail by originating unaffordable manufactured home loans and then charging fees and penalties as delinquency followed. The CFPB is seeking to halt the alleged unlawful practices and obtain relief for affected homeowners. The complaint alleges Vanderbilt failed to make reasonable, good-faith determinations of borrowers’ ability to repay as required, including by disregarding evidence of insufficient income or assets beyond the home, using artificially low living-expense estimates without geographic adjustment, and in some cases making loans even when its own projections showed borrowers could not cover mortgage payments and basic living expenses. The CFPB alleges violations of the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z and is seeking injunctive relief, consumer redress, and a civil money penalty payable into the CFPB’s victims relief fund.