State attorneys general are not waiting to see what the future holds for the CFPB.  With federal oversight receding, states are stepping up enforcement activities and strengthening their consumer protection laws.

This shift—accelerated by efforts to limit the CFPB’s authority under the Trump administration—creates a complex landscape where businesses must navigate a patchwork of state-level statutes, regulations, and enforcement priorities.

Ballard Spahr has a dedicated State Attorneys General Consumer Response Team that helps banks and other financial institutions understand and adapt to the evolving regulatory environment and mitigate risks in an era of heightened state-level enforcement.  Ballard Spahr brings an unmatched combination of experience to state attorney general (AG) enforcement matters. Our team is uniquely positioned to defend clients in high-stakes investigations, with:

  • Former senior officials and leaders from state AG offices, who understand enforcement priorities and regulatory strategy from the inside, including the former First Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania and the former Deputy Solicitor General in the Washington State Office of the Attorney General.
  • Litigators with extensive experience negotiating, resolving, and, when necessary, litigating against state AGs in complex, multistate enforcement actions.
  • A powerhouse Consumer Financial Services (CFS) Group with a top-tier Chambers ranking and decades of regulatory and transactional experience, ensuring that our clients receive a fully integrated approach to enforcement defense, compliance strategy, and litigation risk management.

We have handled some of the most significant multistate probes of the last decade—cases that have been the subject of front-page media coverage, as well as congressional scrutiny. We have represented financial institutions in 50-state AG inquiries, including matters that spun off multiple lawsuits, parallel regulatory actions, and years of state oversight.

We advise banks and non-banks on identifying and complying with regulatory requirement in all fifty states and the U.S. territories. As we worked with financial services clients across the country, we have developed innovative tools to help our attorneys and their clients navigate today’s complicated regulatory environment. Our Licensync tool helps manage state-level and other approvals, licenses, registrations, and enforcement actions to track deadlines and avoid penalties for noncompliance.

We’ve handled high-profile investigations across consumer finance sectors, including student loans, mortgage lending and servicing, auto finance, fintech, and retail banking. Our team provides the strategic guidance clients need to adapt to state-level regulations and mitigate risks—including state-level compliance reviews, risk exposure assessments, investigation response playbooks, compliance program enhancement, and more.

State AGs also retain authority to enforce key federal protections, including the Dodd-Frank Act’s prohibition on unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices by financial institutions. State AGs can still bring actions under these provisions, making it critical for companies to assess both state and federal risks when developing compliance strategies. Increasingly, attorneys general are collaborating across state lines to pursue multistate investigations and enforcement actions.

We can help companies:

  • Conduct a comprehensive review of state consumer protection laws to ensure policies governing fees, lending practices, and disclosures align with evolving state regulations.
  • Conduct a state-by-state compliance review to identify states with active enforcement efforts and ensure that policies align with state-specific consumer protection laws.
  • Assess risk exposure under new state regulations, paying particular attention to states, such as New York, that are enacting stricter rules on overdraft fees, lending, and other practices.
  • Develop playbooks for responding to inquiries from state attorneys general and related state regulatory bodies.
  • Strengthen internal compliance programs by implementing regular audits and monitoring to ensure ongoing compliance with both state and federal requirements.

The lawyers on our State Attorneys General Consumer Finance Response Team advise businesses and organizations to keep them well-prepared to meet current conditions and be ready for what lies ahead. If you have received a civil investigative demand (CID), subpoena, or inquiry from a state attorney general, or if you need guidance on state regulatory compliance, our team is available to assist. Please contact us to discuss your specific situation.