Matthew A. Morr

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A Colorado bill (HB23-1229) that would opt out of Section 521 of the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDA) (codified at 12 U.S.C. 1813d), a federal law enacted to create competitive equality between state-chartered banks and national banks, was approved by both the Colorado Senate and House of Representatives, and will be sent to the Governor shortly.… Continue Reading

Legislation to opt out of a 43-year-old federal law allowing FDIC-insured state banks to “export” interest on interstate loans to the same extent as their national bank counterparts is quietly, but swiftly, working its way through the Colorado legislature.  The bill has passed the House and is expected to be the subject of a hearing next week before a Senate Committee.… Continue Reading

In a win for Ballard Spahr client Specialized Loan Servicing LLC (SLS), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that SLS, a mortgage servicer, properly reported a Covid-19 forbearance plan under the CARES Act amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).  The amendments require furnishers to “report [a consumer’s] credit obligation or account as current” if the furnisher agreed to provide forbearance or other relief on a consumer’s loan.… Continue Reading

On January 4, 2023, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced settlements with two state-chartered credit unions, Bellco Credit Union (“Bellco”) and Canvas Credit Union (“Canvas”), over Guaranteed Automobile Protection (commonly referred to as Guaranteed Asset Protection, or “GAP”) refunds.  An investigation conducted by the Consumer Protection Section of the Colorado Department of Law found that the credit unions were not refunding GAP fees owed to consumers under state law. … Continue Reading

Businesses with automatic renewal contracts—including subscriptions—should take note of Colorado’s new law that went into effect earlier this year on January 1, 2022.  While companies subject to other state’s auto-renewal laws and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (“ROSCA”) will be familiar with the three-prong approach of upfront clear disclosure, simple cancellation, and ongoing reminders, the Colorado law goes a step further by imposing notice obligations on month-to-month renewals.

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Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser recently announced that three Colorado-chartered credit unions had entered into Assurances of Discontinuance (AODs) with the Colorado Administrator of the Uniform Consumer Credit Code (UCCC) to resolve the issues between the Administrator and credit unions concerning whether the credit unions had failed to make refunds of unearned fees for Guaranteed Automobile Protection (GAP) as required by the Colorado UCCC. … Continue Reading

Today, in a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the reach of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) by narrowing what technology qualifies as an Automatic Telephone Dialing System (“ATDS”).  Among other restrictions, the TCPA prohibits calls to phone numbers using an ATDS without prior express consent.  The TCPA defines an ATDS as “equipment which has the capacity (A) to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator; and (B) to dial such numbers.”… Continue Reading

Colorado’s UCCC Administrator has proposed amendments to the rules implementing the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (CFDCPA).  The Administrator also announced that a Zoom stakeholder meeting will be held on August 25 to discuss the proposed amendments and to solicit topics for rulemaking.

The proposed amendments include the following:

  • The provision regarding the sale of the right to collect accounts would be revised to provide that “[a] licensee who does not own the debt may not sell the right to collect client accounts to another licensee, but only the right for the first licensee to refer the client to the second licensee.”
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The Federal Trade Commission recently released its preliminary report on two studies it conducted to help understand the effectiveness of class action settlement notices and to “develop information to help improve settlement outcomes for consumers.”  The report shows that claims rates, regardless of the form of notice, are very low and that some of the more costly forms of notice, like publications in magazines and national newspapers, do not significantly increase the claims rate. … Continue Reading

The Administrator of the Uniform Consumer Credit Code for the State of Colorado, Julie Ann Meade, has filed motions to dismiss the complaints filed in federal court by two state-chartered banks seeking to permanently enjoin enforcement actions brought by the Administrator against the banks’ nonbank partners.  According to the complaints, these nonbank partners market and service loans originated by the banks, and the banks sometimes sell these loans to their partners.… Continue Reading