The legal landscape of consumer reporting continues to evolve with courts, federal regulators and state legislatures all playing roles in shaping this area of the law.
Originally published in Law360 - January 9, 2024....more
In this final episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast Year in Review series, host Chris Willis is joined by Tim St. George, a key member of our Consumer Financial Services Litigation team. They discuss the significant...more
Following several years of investigating the common practices in the space, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached its first settlement with a data broker over the alleged collection and sale of location information that...more
1/18/2024
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Brokers ,
Data Collection ,
Data Sellers ,
Data Selling ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Geolocation ,
Location Data ,
Personal Data ,
Request For Information ,
Settlement
On January 11, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued two “advisory opinions” addressing the CFPB’s views of the obligations of consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) under the Fair Credit Reporting Act...more
On December 20, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in a Texas federal court against Colony Ridge Development, LLC (Colony Ridge), its affiliates, and Loan...more
12/22/2023
/ Borrowers ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
False Statements ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Predatory Lending ,
UDAAP
In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a report highlighting various unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices it claims to have uncovered during its supervisory examinations from July 2022 to...more
12/15/2023
/ Automotive Loans ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
ECOA ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lenders ,
Loans ,
Mortgages ,
Regulation B ,
Regulation V ,
Regulation Z ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
The Fair Credit Reporting Act saw no shortage of activity in the first half of 2023. That activity included federal and state legislation. Congress has introduced several bills intended to amend the FCRA — and on the state...more
The first half of 2023 has produced significant developments for the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Important decisions have come from multiple areas of the field, including the federal courts of appeals and regulatory...more
11/30/2023
/ Amicus Briefs ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Fraud ,
Identity Theft ,
Oral Argument
On October 24, the Biden-Harris administration announced amendments to the regulations implementing title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA). According to the fact sheet, the amendments are intended to allow the...more
11/3/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Education ,
Educational Institutions ,
Financial Aid ,
Financial Institutions ,
Higher Education Act ,
Public Comment ,
Statutory Requirements ,
Student Loans ,
Students ,
Title IV ,
Transcripts ,
Tuition
A new enforcement action provides more detail on the expectations of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, the agencies) for the content of tenant screening reports....more
10/17/2023
/ Civil Penalty Fund ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Rental Property ,
Screening Procedures ,
Tenants ,
TransUnion ,
TransUnion LLC v Ramirez
Recently, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, the agencies) filed an amici curiae brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reverse a...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has started the process of issuing rules on several topics affecting the entire ecosystem that collects, sells, and uses data about consumers, according to an Outline of the...more
9/22/2023
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Data Brokers ,
Data Privacy ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SBREFA
At a White House Roundtable on protecting Americans from allegedly harmful “data broker” practices, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) Director Rohit Chopra announced the Bureau’s intention to expand the...more
8/17/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
CFPB Director ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Data Brokers ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Proposed Rules ,
Roundtable
The drumbeat to increase regulation of tenant screening continues, this time in Michigan.
On June 15, Michigan state Representative Brenda Carter (D-29) introduced House Bill 4818, which proposes to amend landlord-tenant...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued a final rule updating, among other things, the model form for the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Summary of Consumer Rights and information that must be...more
On March 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a Request for Information (Request) seeking public comment on the business practices of data brokers and how they impact the daily lives of consumers....more
On February 28, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) jointly issued a Request for Information, seeking public comment on how background screening affects individuals seeking...more
On February 14, TransUnion filed its annual 10-K report pursuant to the Securities and Exchange Act. Under the section entitled “Risks Related to Laws, Regulations and Government Oversight,” the company disclosed that it was...more
On November 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued two reports, highlighting what the CFPB perceives to be forms of errors that frequently occur in tenant background checks and the impacts the CFPB...more
On November 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a circular, stating that both consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) and furnishers may be held liable under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) for...more
On August 4, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) Director Rohit Chopra spoke at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank’s Sixth Annual Fintech Conference, arguing that enforcement actions rather than financial...more
On June 28, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an interpretive rule, encouraging states to enact more laws regulating consumer reporting, arguing that states’ powers are only constrained in limited ways by...more
On March 18, the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion (NCRAs) — announced plans to change how medical debt will be reported on credit reports. The joint measures will result in the...more
On November 4, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an advisory opinion, stating that a consumer reporting agency (CRA) that engages in name-only matching violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s (FCRA)...more
On July 1, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a FCRA Tenant Screening Enforcement Compliance Bulletin, outlining its enforcement focus areas as the country transitions to a post-pandemic rental...more