On June 13, 2024, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra appeared before the House Financial Services Committee for a hearing, “The Semi-Annual Report of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.” As we expected, the House Financial...more
It took about an hour for someone on the Senate Finance Committee during its hearing today to mention the “elephant in the room” — namely, the fact that the CFPB is only allowed under Dodd-Frank to be funded out of “combined...more
On May 16, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the CFPB’s funding mechanism does not violate the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution. This two-part episode repurposes a recent webinar. In Part I, we first...more
On May 29, 2024, Illinois lawmakers passed an omnibus budget bill (HB4951) that includes the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act (the “Act”). The Act prohibits the collection of debit and credit card interchange fees for sales...more
On June 5, 2024, Minnesota Bankers Association and Lake Central Bank (“Plaintiffs”), filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to appeal the Minnesota federal district court’s April...more
On June 4, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2024-03 (“Circular”) warning that the use of unlawful or unenforceable terms and conditions in contracts for...more
On May 30, 2024, in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court reversed Cantero v. Bank of America, N.A., and remanded it back to the Second Circuit and instructed the appellate court to analyze whether New York’s law requiring...more
6/3/2024
/ Bank of America ,
Cantero v Bank of America NA ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Escrow Accounts ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Interest Rates ,
National Bank Act ,
Preemption ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued two letters in support of state efforts to prohibit medical debt reporting. In March 2024, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra sent a letter to the California State Senate in...more
5/22/2024
/ California ,
Connecticut ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Debt Collection ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Debt
Florida Bankers Association President and CEO and former Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Kathy Kraninger wrote an editorial in the May 14, 2024 American Banker titled “CFPB Must Stop Manipulating...more
5/17/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Credit Cards ,
Data Management ,
Debt Collection ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Late Fees
On April 16, 2024, the U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin A. Drain in the Eastern District of Michigan granted summary judgment in favor of Flagstar Bank (the “Bank”) in a case where the plaintiff alleged breach of contract...more
Last Friday, May 10, the Texas federal district court hearing the lawsuit challenging the CFPB’s final credit card late fee rule (Rule) granted the plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction motion and stayed the Rule. The Rule was...more
5/14/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Credit Cards ,
Debt Collection ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Late Fees ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
In a recent unpublished memorandum opinion in a putative class action, Carpenter et al. v. Opportunity Financial, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld an arbitration clause in an agreement governing...more
On May 9, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) held a 98-minute joint hearing on airline and credit card rewards programs. CFPB Deputy Director Zixta Martinez...more
In April 2024, Wisconsin and Maine enacted the Model Money Transmission Modernization Law (“MTML”) to implement the Conference of State Bank Supervisors’ Model Money Transmission Modernization Act. As of April 22, 2024,...more
In the lawsuit challenging the CFPB’s final credit card late fee rule (Rule), the Fifth Circuit has denied the CFPB’s petition for a panel rehearing to reconsider the panel’s order vacating the district court’s order...more
As part of its junk fees initiative, the CFPB released a new report, “Price Complexity in Laboratory Markets.” In its press release about the report, the CFPB states that because it “suggests consumers tend to pay more for...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently issued a Financial Trend Analysis (“Analysis”) focusing on patterns and trends identified in Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) data linked to Elder Financial Exploitation...more
5/2/2024
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Elder Abuse ,
Exploitation ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Scams ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
A surprising development took place this week in the lawsuit challenging the CFPB’s final credit card late fee rule (Rule). The Fifth Circuit entered an order vacating the district court’s order denying the plaintiffs’...more
On April 26, 2024, Plaintiffs filed their response to the CFPB’s Petition for a Panel Rehearing with the Fifth Circuit in the lawsuit challenging the CFPB’s credit card penalty fees rule (Rule). On the same date, the...more
4/30/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd ,
Credit Cards ,
Debt Collection ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Late Fees ,
Motion to Transfer ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
SCOTUS ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
In furtherance of the Biden Administration’s “junk fee” agenda, on Thursday, May 9, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Department of Transportation will host a hearing on airline and credit card...more
As expected, the Colorado Attorney General and Colorado Uniform Consumer Credit Code Administrator filed their responsive brief in opposition to the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction filed earlier this month in...more
Our special guest is Andrew Nigrinis of Legal Economics LLC and former CFPB enforcement economist. The CFPB’s final credit card late fee rule lowers the safe harbor late fee amount that card issuers other than “smaller card...more
Last week ended with several new developments in the lawsuit challenging the CFPB’s final credit card late fee rule (Rule), both of which appear to reduce the likelihood that the Rule will be stayed before its May 14...more
4/23/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Credit Cards ,
Debt Collection ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Late Fees ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
The Committee on Codes of Conduct of the Judicial Conference of the United States (Committee) has unanimously concluded that Fifth Circuit Judge Willett is not required to recuse in the trade group plaintiffs’ appeal in their...more
4/18/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Credit Cards ,
Debt Collection ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Jurisdiction ,
Late Fees ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Recusal
Last Wednesday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia terminated on its docket the case challenging the CFPB’s final credit card late fee rule (Rule) which had been transferred to D.D.C. by the Texas federal...more