December 2023

Providers of consumer financial services that rely on federal preemption to charge customers uniform interest rates and fees on a nationwide basis are currently facing a series of legislative and litigation challenges.  In this episode, which repurposes a recent webinar, we first discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari in Cantero v.… Continue Reading

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” buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) products to ensure they do not “become a method to take advantage of struggling consumers.”

The Senators observed that “[w]hile BNPL might provide some consumers with helpful flexibility, it also presents new risks that the CFPB should continue to monitor and guard against.” … Continue Reading

On December 12, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced its Combating Auto Retail Scams Rule, otherwise known as the “CARS Rule,” setting new requirements on the sale, financing, and leasing of vehicles by motor vehicle dealers. The final rule, which is effective on July 30, 2024, prohibits certain misrepresentations in the financing process, sets disclosure requirements on dealers’ advertising and sales communications, mandates that dealers obtain consumers’ express, informed consent for charges, and prohibits the sale of add-on products or services if there is no benefit to the consumer.… Continue Reading

On December 13, 2023, New York Governor Hochul signed two laws, which aim to protect consumers from (1) unwanted subscriptions by requiring notice to consumers for upcoming automatic renewals with clear instructions for canceling, and (2) confusion over prices by requiring merchants to post the highest price a consumer may pay for a product regardless of payment method.… Continue Reading

Colorado and New York are not waiting for the Fair Credit Reporting Act rulemaking to eliminate creditor use of medical debt announced by the CFPB in September 2023. As we previously blogged, in the past two years, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have made significant changes with respect to medical debt collections by removing unpaid medical collections under $500 from consumer credit reports, removing paid medical collections from credit reports, and extending the time period before unpaid medical debt appears on a credit report to one year after the first delinquency.… Continue Reading

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 card marketplace that is inconsistent with the CFPB’s October 2023 report (Report) under the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act.… Continue Reading

The CFPB recently issued a final rule increasing the asset exemption threshold under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and a final rule increasing the asset exemption threshold for the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) requirement to maintain an escrow account for a higher-priced mortgage loan (HPML).

Banks, savings associations and credit unions are not subject to HMDA for a calendar year if their assets as of December 31 of the prior calendar year did not exceed an asset threshold.… Continue Reading

On December 5, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States in Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer, declined to substantively address a question businesses across the country have been eager to resolve: That is, whether a “tester” plaintiff has standing to sue a public accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), despite having no intention of ever visiting the business. … Continue Reading

The CFPB announced last week that it has entered into a consent order with Commonwealth Financial Systems, Inc. (Commonwealth), a third-party debt collection company that collects past-due medical debts and furnishes information about consumers to consumer reporting agencies (CRAs), to resolve Commonwealth’s alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). … Continue Reading