FirstCash, a national pawnshop chain, cannot use the “bona-fide error defense” in its defense of a Military Lending Act (MLA) suit filed by the CFPB against the company, a federal judge has ruled in a case of first...more
Saying that it wants to provide sufficient time to brief issues in pending litigation, the CFPB has announced that it is extending the effective date of its advisory opinion on medical debt from Dec. 3, 2024 to Jan. 2, 2025....more
Today’s podcast episode is a re-purposing of a webinar we recorded on November 12, 2024. Our special guests for that webinar were Colin Carr, Vice-President of Congressional affairs at the Consumer Bankers Association and Ian...more
ACA International, the association representing the accounts receivable industry, has filed suit against the CFPB, alleging that the bureau’s advisory opinion on medical debt was overtly political, issued in violation of the...more
11/25/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Advisory Opinions ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt
The percentage of unbanked households in the U.S. fell to its lowest level in 2023—4.2%–, the FDIC recently reported....more
A federal court has ordered Harris Jewelry to reopen its claims process and to again notify consumers that they may submit their claims for refunds from the jewelry company....more
11/22/2024
/ Consumer Complaint System ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financing ,
Jewelry ,
Military Lending Act ,
Military Service Members ,
Popular ,
Refunds ,
Settlement Agreements
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a request by the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA) to hold a rehearing en banc on the group’s challenge of the CFPB’s payday loan rule....more
11/19/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
En Banc Review ,
Federal Funding ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Payday Lending Rule ,
Payday Loans ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Separation of Powers ,
UDAAP
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., an advocate of a strict financial regulatory regime, will become the top Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in the next Congress....more
The FTC has filed a complaint against the online cash advance app, Dave, charging that the company used misleading marketing to deceive consumers about the amount of its cash advances and charged consumers undisclosed fees...more
A federal judge has ordered debt collector, Global Circulation Inc. (GCI) to temporarily halt operations, following an FTC complaint that alleged GCI tricked consumers into paying more than $7.6 million in bogus debt by...more
Following lengthy litigation, the CFPB is attempting to close the books on its case against Townstone Financial alleging discriminatory lending practices and redlining African American neighborhoods in Chicago....more
11/7/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Redlining ,
Settlement
The CFPB recently took action against VyStar Credit Union in connection with allegations that the credit union “botched” its rollout of a new online banking system....more
On October 11, California’s Office of Administrative Law (“OAL”) approved the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation’s (“DFPI’s”) registration rulemaking for providers of the following products...more
11/1/2024
/ California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) ,
Comment Period ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Debt Settlement Services ,
Debt-Relief Industry ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Earned Wage Access ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Income Share Agreements ,
Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process
The Department of Transportation is allowing Alaska Airlines (“Alaska”) and Hawaiian Airlines (“Hawaiian”) to close their merger—as long as the airlines protect their passenger rewards program against devaluation and ensure...more
10/25/2024
/ Airline Passengers ,
Airlines ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Fees ,
Hawaii ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
Rewards Programs ,
Transportation Corridor
The CFPB has filed suit against student lender Climb Credit, Inc. and its largest shareholder 1/0 (one zero), alleging that the lender induced students to take out loans by misrepresenting the quality of the training programs...more
One of the country’s largest automotive retailers filed suit against the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) on October 4, arguing that the Supreme Court’s recent landmark decision in Securities and Exchange Commission v....more
10/25/2024
/ Add-ons ,
Administrative Authority ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Article III ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Jury Trial ,
Public Rights Doctrine ,
SCOTUS ,
SEC v Jarkesy ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Seventh Amendment ,
Standing ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Today’s podcast, which repurposes a recent webinar, is the conclusion of a two-part examination of the CFPB’s use of a proposed interpretive rule, rather than a legislative rule, to expand regulatory requirements for earned...more
On October 16, the FTC issued its final amendments to the Negative Option Rule, which now applies to all negative option programs and includes a “click to cancel” provision intended to make it easier for consumers to cancel...more
The CFPB, Fed, and OCC have announced that they are increasing exemption thresholds that are subject to annual inflation adjustments. Effective January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025, these exemption thresholds are...more
10/18/2024
/ Appraisal ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Exemptions ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Loans ,
Mortgages ,
OCC ,
Regulation M ,
Regulation Z ,
Threshold Requirements
The CFPB has banned private dispute resolution platform Ejudicate from arbitrating disputes about consumer financial products, saying that the company had misled student borrowers about the company’s neutrality and initiated...more
10/17/2024
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitrators ,
Banks ,
Borrowers ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Student Loans ,
UDAAP ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Today’s podcast, which repurposes a recent webinar, is the first in a two-part examination of the CFPB’s use of an interpretive rule, rather than a legislative rule, to expand regulatory requirements for buy-now, pay-later...more
The Justice Department announced that Citadel Federal Credit Union has agreed to pay more than $6.5 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of redlining majority-Black and Hispanic...more
10/14/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Access to Credit ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Loans ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redlining ,
Statutory Violations
The CFPB is in the process of completing its final rule intended to ban the inclusion of medical debts in credit reports, bureau Director Rohit Chopra said at a White House session intended to focus on practices in the...more
10/9/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Creditors ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt
Saying that reverse redlining is a form of discrimination, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has refused to dismiss a discrimination case alleging that Texas developer Colony Ridge specifically...more
10/8/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgages ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Redlining ,
Regulation B ,
Reverse Discrimination
Invitation Homes, the nation’s largest landlord of single-family homes, has agreed to pay $48 million and to stop a significant number of its rental practices, including misleading renters about lease costs and charging...more