Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an advisory opinion on the attempted enforcement of time-barred alleged debt collection rights as to second mortgage loans. It is a violation of the Fair Debt...more
If you thought we were finally done with indemnification litigation focused on residential mortgages originated before the financial crisis of 2007-2008, think again. Over the past year, the Federal Deposit Insurance...more
In February, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed amending the Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation Z with respect to the amount of fees that credit card issuers are permitted to charge their customers for...more
5/19/2023
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Cards ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Late Fees ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation Z ,
SBREFA ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
On May 5, 2023, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the Crypto Regulation, Protection, Transparency, and Oversight (“CRPTO”) Act, which aims “to protect customers and investors in digital assets from fraudulent...more
5/12/2023
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Investment ,
Investor Protection ,
New York ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Stablecoins
In a June 3, 2022 court filing, Kabbage, Inc. (doing business as KServicing), a fintech lender, disclosed that it is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) under the False Claims Act. The investigation,...more
Cryptocurrency companies face a steadily growing number of lawsuits, adding to a list of recent headaches for their industry. That list includes steep recent declines in investment value and a high probability of new...more
8/12/2022
/ Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Fraud ,
Investment Products ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Securities Act ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
We’ve provided insights previously about increased regulatory and litigation activity related to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosures by companies to current and prospective investors. For those not yet...more
6/29/2022
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Banks ,
Business Strategies ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Greenwashing ,
Investment
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dealt a major blow to mortgage investors in two parallel actions pending for the past few years. The impact proved to be fatal to one of the actions,...more
2/18/2022
/ Article III ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investors ,
Mortgages ,
Representations and Warranties ,
RMBS ,
Standing ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Time-Barred Claims
Cryptocurrency continues to gain traction as a means of payment for goods and services. It recently made its debut appearance in the mortgage industry, as the concept of a “crypto-mortgage” came to life. A Miami-based...more
2/9/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Loans ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgages ,
Popular ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Real Estate Market ,
Real Estate Transactions
We highlighted in a recent post regulators’ clear intentions to bring greater order to the cryptocurrency industry this year. The last three weeks have demonstrated that private litigants are not waiting on regulators to rein...more
1/14/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Celebrity Endorsements ,
Consumer Fraud ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Misleading Statements ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Virtual Currency
Two major U.S. financial institutions, Morgan Stanley and Capital One, recently agreed to resolve separate class action lawsuits by paying, in the aggregate, hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for massive data...more
1/7/2022
/ Capital One ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Class Action ,
Cloud Computing ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Information Technology ,
Morgan Stanley ,
Personal Data ,
Settlement Agreements
2021 provided some long-awaited new exit ramps off the long and winding road of business vs. business residential mortgage litigation stemming from the 2007–08 financial crisis. A multitude of recent settlements has left that...more
Even enthusiastic participants in the booming cryptocurrency sector have at times described it as having a distinctly “Wild West” feel at this relatively early stage of its development. Lately, though, there has been no...more
12/16/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investment Opportunities ,
OCC ,
Popular ,
Stablecoins ,
Virtual Currency
At the beginning of his term, President Biden declared that his administration would make it a policy to eliminate “racial bias and other forms of discrimination in all states of home-buying and renting.”...more
10/5/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Community Reinvestment Act ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disparate Impact ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
First-Lien ,
Housing Market ,
Mortgages ,
OCC ,
Racial Bias ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Redlining ,
Section 1071 ,
Settlement Agreements
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), the nation’s largest wholesale mortgage lender, announced on March 4, 2021, that it would no longer do business with mortgage brokers who also worked with Rocket Mortgage (the online loan...more
5/6/2021
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Anti-Steering Rules ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Class Action ,
Competition ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Monopolization ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Quicken Loans ,
Restraint of Trade ,
Sherman Act ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Wholesale
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) have been in such widespread use over the last year or two that an uptick in SPAC-related litigation appears inevitable....more
Business interruption insurance claims keep coming, cutting across a broad array of industries. The entertainment and media sectors are certainly not immune from pandemic-related losses. Last month, ViacomCBS became the...more
2/24/2021
/ Breach of Contract ,
Business Interruption ,
Business Losses ,
CBS ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Insurance Claims ,
Policy Exclusions ,
Policy Terms ,
Viacom
In March, the Florida Legislature passed CS/HB 873, approving the Uniform Commercial Real Estate Receivership Act (“UCRERA”). First drafted in 2015 by the Uniform Law Commission, UCRERA has already been adopted by seven...more
A proposed class action filed in federal court in California on April 20 demands refunds for all fans who purchased tickets to Major League Baseball (MLB) games that have been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus...more
In the mortgage industry, as in many others, uncertainty abounds as companies attempt to adjust to the “current normal.” One thing residential mortgage loan originators and servicers believe is clear, however, is that they...more
What can companies expect from their funding sources as COVID-19 does damage to the economy? In at least some instances, perhaps, opportunistic attempts by lenders to illegally take control of business assets....more
As the world grapples with the health threat posed by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the secondary threats of the coronavirus—including economic and financial consequences—have come into clear view....more
3/18/2020
/ China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Bonds ,
Debt ,
Dow Jones ,
Economic Downturn ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Mortgages ,
Public Health ,
Recessions ,
Stock Prices
Lawyers or business people who feel they have been hearing about a lot more consumer protection class actions lately have good reason for that feeling. A recent report by Lex Machina, part of LexisNexis, highlights an...more
2/20/2020
/ Class Action ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Putative Class Actions ,
TCPA ,
Text Messages
A recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit offers some vindication for mortgage companies still facing “repurchase” demands made by the banks to which they sold residential mortgages in the...more
11/19/2019
/ Appeals ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreclosure ,
Loans ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgages ,
Repurchases ,
Summary Judgment
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently announced that it will allow the so-called “GSE patch” to expire in January 2021. This patch permits Government-Sponsored Entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy...more
8/20/2019
/ Ability-to-Repay ,
Bright-Line Rule ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Fannie Mae ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Freddie Mac ,
GSE ,
Housing Market ,
Loans ,
Mortgages