The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has filed an administrative enforcement action against a title lender for alleged violations of California law and launched an investigation into whether the interest...more
3/26/2019
/ Ability-to-Repay ,
Administrative Authority ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Department of Business Oversight ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Interest Rates ,
State and Local Government ,
Title Loans ,
Unconscionable Contracts
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Facebook has agreed to remove age, gender, and zip code targeting for housing, employment, and credit-related advertisements as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the...more
The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has issued an invitation for comments from stakeholders in developing regulations to implement SB 1235, the bill signed into law on September 30, 2018 that requires...more
Consistent with the weight of authority, the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that certain litigation financing agreements structured as asset sales were not disguised "loans," and therefore not subject to the state's...more
A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday handed the plaintiffs’ bar a resounding win. ...more
9/24/2018
/ Appeals ,
ATDS ,
Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Banking Sector ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Popular ,
Robocalling ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications ,
Text Messages
Politico has reported that in remarks made at a fintech policy event last week, Andrew Smith, the FTC’s Director of Consumer Protection, indicated that fintech companies will be a focus of the FTC’s enforcement activities....more
It appears likely that California Governor Jerry Brown will sign a bill passed on August 31 by the state's Senate, Senate Bill 1235, which would create consumer-style disclosure requirements for certain commercial loans and...more
Resolving an ambiguity in the California Finance Lender’s Law (CFLL), the California Supreme Court unanimously held that borrowers may use the unconscionability doctrine to challenge the interest rate on consumer loans of...more
8/21/2018
/ Ability-to-Repay ,
CA Supreme Court ,
CashCall ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Finance Lenders Law ,
Financial Services Industry ,
High-Interest Loans ,
Interest Rates ,
State and Local Government ,
Unconscionable Contracts ,
Unfair Competition Law (UCL) ,
Usury
Resolving an ambiguity in the California Finance Lender's Law (CFLL), the California Supreme Court unanimously held that borrowers may use the unconscionability doctrine to challenge the interest rate on consumer loans of...more
8/17/2018
/ Ability-to-Repay ,
CA Supreme Court ,
CashCall ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Finance Lenders Law ,
Financial Services Industry ,
High-Interest Loans ,
Interest Rates ,
State and Local Government ,
Unconscionable Contracts ,
Unfair Competition Law (UCL)
A report issued last week by the U.S. Treasury Department recommends sweeping regulatory changes intended to promote innovation in the consumer financial services market, reduce regulatory burdens on consumer financial...more
8/8/2018
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Information ,
Data Security ,
Debt Collection ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Innovation ,
Non-Bank Lenders ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Reassigned Phone Numbers ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Special Purpose National Bank Charter ,
Student Loans ,
TCPA ,
True Lender ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Valid When Made Doctrine
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) announcement this week that it will begin accepting applications for special purpose national bank (SPNB) charters from financial technology (Fintech) companies represents...more
8/3/2018
/ Capital Requirements ,
FDIA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Fintech Charter ,
National Bank Charters ,
OCC ,
Policy Statement ,
Preemption ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Special Purpose National Bank Charter
In two closely-watched enforcement actions pending in Colorado state court, the Administrator of the Uniform Consumer Credit Code for the State of Colorado is employing the “true lender” theory and the Second Circuit’s...more
6/29/2018
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDIA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Madden v Midland Funding ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Motion To Intervene ,
Oral Argument ,
Preemption ,
State and Local Government ,
True Lender ,
Usury
A D.C. federal district court has dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) in April 2017 challenging the OCC’s authority to grant special purpose national bank (SPNB) charters to...more
Arizona’s Governor recently signed into law legislation that directs the state’s Attorney General to establish a “regulatory sandbox program” for the purpose of “enabl[ing] a person to obtain limited access to the market in...more
The New York Department of Financial Services has sent a letter directed to businesses that the DFS “understands…may be involved in online lending in the State of New York” and that asks recipients to complete a “New York...more
The decision last week of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling on petitions seeking review of the Federal Communications Commission’s (the “FCC”) 2015 Declaratory Ruling and Order (the “2015 Ruling”)...more
Identical bills have been introduced in the New York Assembly (A08938) and Senate (S07294) that would direct the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) to issue a report on online lending by July 1, 2018....more
A California law that prohibits merchants from imposing a surcharge on credit card purchases violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has...more
1/9/2018
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Credit Card Surcharges ,
Credit Cards ,
Debit and Credit Card Transactions ,
Expressions Hair Design v Schneiderman ,
Financial Services Industry ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Merchants ,
Retail Market ,
Retailers ,
Summary Judgment
Businesses that have not already done so should consult with counsel regarding "consent to be called" provisions in their consumer contracts in the wake of the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit...more
Last week, the OCC announced that it had issued a full service national bank charter to Winter Park National Bank of Florida.
Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika released a statement in which he stated that...more
In remarks last week at Georgetown University’s Institute of International Economic Law’s Fintech Week event, Acting OCC Comptroller Keith Noreika provided the “latest on our thinking regarding a charter for fintech companies...more
Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities issued a letter to “all persons engaged in activity regulated or licensed by the [Department] regardless of the means of delivery of such regulated...more
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors has released a list of 33 companies that will serve as members of its Fintech Industry Advisory Panel.
According to the CSBS, the Advisory Panel’s purpose is “to support state...more
10/20/2017
/ Advisory Committee ,
Banking Sector ,
CSBS ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
National Bank Charters ,
NYDFS ,
OCC ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Special Purpose National Bank Charter ,
Technology Sector
In Madden, the Second Circuit ruled that a nonbank that purchases loans from a national bank could not charge the same rate of interest on the loan that Section 85 of the National Bank Act allows the national bank to charge. ...more
Although the California Finance Lenders Law (the CFLL) does not limit the interest rates that may be charged on loans of $2,500 or more, Section 22302 of the law expressly states that loans made under the CFLL may be held...more