Michael Gordon

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Yesterday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court held oral argument in Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a case we have been following closely on Consumer Finance Monitor because of its profound potential implications for the future of the CFPB.  In the case, the Court will rule on whether the CFPB’s funding mechanism violates the U.S.… Continue Reading

The CFPB recently released a report regarding higher education tuition payment plans that discusses prevailing practices and highlights certain CFPB concerns regarding consumer impact. The CFPB’s report was based upon (a) a review of hundreds of postsecondary school and college websites that contain publicly available information on tuition plans and related contracts, (b) consumer complaints submitted to the CFPB and Department of Education, and (c) interviews with consumers and meetings with industry participants.… Continue Reading

Last week, three farm credit trade associations filed the latest in a series of unopposed emergency motions for leave to intervene in the Texas case challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (“CFPB”) final small business lending rule implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act (Rule). The intervenors – the Farm Credit Council, Texas Farm Credit, and Capital Farm Credit (collectively, “Farm Credit Intervenors”) – argue that the Rule imposes substantial burdens on agricultural lenders and the institutions that support them, and that the members they represent will suffer disproportionately, as the majority of their loans go to small businesses, such as farmers, ranches, and agribusinesses, covered by the Rule.… Continue Reading

Yesterday, we blogged about the opinion issued on September 8 by the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in the lawsuit brought last year by several trade associations against the CFPB. In that lawsuit, the trade associations challenged changes made by the CFPB to its UDAAP Exam Manual in March, 2022 to encompass discrimination claims within the “unfairness” prong even when such claims go well beyond the scope of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.… Continue Reading

As we predicted long ago, on Friday, September 8, 2023, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the changes made in March 2022 to the CFPB’s Exam Manual. On that date, the CFPB purported to use its authority to prohibit unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAPs) to target discriminatory conduct, even where fair lending laws may not apply.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has filed its opposition to the motion for a preliminary injunction filed by the plaintiffs in the Kentucky federal court lawsuit challenging the CFPB’s final small business lending rule (Rule).

The plaintiffs in the Kentucky lawsuit are the Kentucky Bankers Association and several Kentucky banks.  The Kentucky plaintiffs chose to file a separate lawsuit rather than intervene in the lawsuit pending in a Texas federal district court challenging the Rule filed by the American Bankers Association, Texas Bankers Association, and Rio Grande Bank and in which several credit unions, community banks, credit union and community bank trade associations, an auto floor plan lender, and a trade association for financial services companies and manufacturers in the equipment finance sector have already intervened and filed preliminary injunction motions. … Continue Reading

A group of trade associations has sent a letter to CFPB Director Chopra urging the CFPB to address the disparity that has resulted from the order entered by the Texas federal district court in the lawsuit challenging the CFPB’s small business lending rule that granted preliminary injunctive relief only to the plaintiffs and their members. … Continue Reading

The CFPB announced this week that it has entered into a proposed settlement of a lawsuit it filed in 2019 in Utah federal district court against a group of defendants who constitute the largest credit repair organizations in the United States.  Rather than targeting the quality or effectiveness of the credit repair services actually provided by the defendants, the lawsuit targeted the marketing methods allegedly used by the defendants to obtain referrals of consumers.… Continue Reading

Yet another unopposed emergency motion for leave to intervene has been filed in the Texas lawsuit challenging the CFPB’s final small business lending rule (Rule).  The latest proposed intervenors are XL Funding, LLC d/b/a Axle Funding, LLC (Axle) and the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) (collectively, the Proposed ELFA Intervenors).… Continue Reading

The CFPB has filed a lawsuit in a South Carolina federal district court against Heights Finance Holding Co. f/k/a Southern Management Corporation and a group of its wholly-owned, state-licensed subsidiaries (collectively, Southern) in which the CFPB alleges that Southern violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s UDAAP prohibition by “churning payment-stressed borrowers in fee-laden refinances.”… Continue Reading