On August 5, the FTC announced proposed court orders that would require a defendant credit repair operation, its owners and associated companies (collectively, defendants) to pay more than $12 million to resolve allegations...more
The FTC has shut down Michigan-based Financial Education Services, a credit repair company that the agency says actually was a large pyramid scheme...more
Traditional credit underwriting methods, which are generally based on credit reports, have not always successfully captured the full picture of a borrower’s ability to repay. It is estimated that more than 45 million US...more
On February 16, Kentucky state representative Steve Bratcher (R) introduced House Bill (HB) 578. The bill seeks to create a new section of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act that would restrict how consumer reporting...more
Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, and Democratic committee members Raphael Warnock and John Fetterman, have sent a letter to Director Chopra urging the CFPB to “continue focusing on”...more
The Consumer Bankers Association has issued the third and fourth blog posts in its four-part “Facts Matter” blog series on how the CFPB’s public statements can mislead market observers by painting a picture of the credit...more
On 7 December 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued an important decision on how the GDPR governs AI-assisted decisions. The case arose in the financial services context, with the court holding that...more
On October 12, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied certification of a putative class action asserting that TransUnion violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Missouri...more
On July 27, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a new blog post, positing that cashflow data, broadly defined as the various inflows, outflows, and accumulated amounts in a consumer’s checking and savings...more
On July 7, Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed SB 103 into law, which prohibits any person from offering earned wage access (EWA) services without registering with the Division of Finance and paying an annual $1,000 fee. The...more
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
Welcome back to the Class Action & MDL Roundup! This edition covers notable class actions from the first quarter of 2023. In this edition, in pork we antitrust, paid time off is not pay, and if it’s free, it won’t cost...more
Stemming from the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) 2019 validation and approval of credit score models final rule, the FHFA announced in October 2022 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored...more
In this month's article, we share some of our top "bites" for the prior month covered during the February webinar....more
On January 25, the CFPB released a blog post on credit score transitions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Using data available to the Bureau, the agency examined the transitions of consumers across credit score tiers using a...more
As the topic of credit reporting and credit scoring remains front and center at several federal agencies, a major Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) decision, stemming from a 2019 final rule regarding credit score...more
Biden Makes It Easier for Student Loan Borrowers to Get a Mortgage - "The new rule supported by the Biden administration proposed that FHA lenders drop the requirement to calculate student loan payments at 1%." Why this is...more
On July 6, 2021, the Eleventh Circuit issued a per curiam opinion affirming the Southern District of Alabama’s entry of summary judgment in the lender’s favor on a plaintiff’s claim under the Fair Credit Reporting Act...more
The CFPB recently updated its Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) FAQs to add two items regarding multiple data points....more
The United States House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 5332, the Protecting Your Credit Score Act of 2020. The Act would amend FCRA is several respects. The overall purpose of the Act is to “ensure that consumer...more
The CFPB has issued its semi-annual report to Congress. The Report, which covers April through September of 2019, is mandated by Dodd-Frank and was released in conjunction with Director Kraninger’s testimony to the House...more
On January 29, 2020, the House passed H.R. 3621, the Comprehensive Credit Reporting Enhancement, Disclosure, Innovation, and Transparency Act of 2020 (“Comprehensive CREDIT Act”). Sponsored by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), it...more
The OCC announced yesterday that it’s bringing enforcement actions against five former Wells Fargo bank executives as part of their alleged roles in the bank’s sales practices scandal. The agency further revealed that it’s...more
On August 16, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”) issued a final rule on validation and approval of third-party credit score models (“Final Rule”) that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (“GSEs”) use in deciding whether to...more
Three more bills dealing with credit reporting were passed on Tuesday by the House Financial Services Committee. Like the four bills passed by the Committee last week, none of the bills passed yesterday received any...more