The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has filed an administrative enforcement action against a title lender for alleged violations of California law and launched an investigation into whether the interest rates charged by the lender are unconscionable.

According to the DBO’s Accusation, the lender is licensed under the California Financing Law (CFL). … Continue Reading

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Facebook has agreed to remove age, gender, and zip code targeting for housing, employment, and credit-related advertisements as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the National Fair Housing Alliance, the Communications Workers of America, and other plaintiffs.

While Facebook reportedly did not permit advertisers to target specifically by race, it did allow advertisers to use “ethnic affinity” criteria.  … Continue Reading

A bill (AB 1428) has been introduced in the California Assembly that would apply to a “business” that uses prepaid cards to make refunds to customers located in California.  The bill would require such a business to allow the customer to choose whether to get the refund by prepaid card, check, or a refund back to the original form of payment.… Continue Reading

Ballard Spahr attorneys Chris Willis, Scott Pearson, and Taylor Steinbacher discuss recent noteworthy developments in California law. Chris, who chairs Ballard’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation Group, and Scott, a partner in the Consumer Financial Services group, discuss the recently decided California Supreme Court De La Torre case, which makes licensed lenders vulnerable to claims that high-interest rate loans over $2,500 may be unconscionable.… Continue Reading

Politico has reported that in remarks made at a fintech policy event last week, Andrew Smith, the FTC’s Director of Consumer Protection, indicated that fintech companies will be a focus of the FTC’s enforcement activities.

According to Politico, Mr. Smith said that FTC was particularly interested in online lending, with an emphasis on small-business lending. … Continue Reading

Resolving an ambiguity in the California Finance Lender’s Law (CFLL), the California Supreme Court unanimously held that borrowers may use the unconscionability doctrine to challenge the interest rate on consumer loans of $2,500 or more, despite the fact that the CFLL has deregulated interest rates on such loans.  Although unconscionability claims of this nature will be difficult to prosecute, the decision creates heightened risk for nonbank consumer lenders doing business in California, particularly when lending at high rates. … Continue Reading

In two closely-watched enforcement actions pending in Colorado state court, the Administrator of the Uniform Consumer Credit Code for the State of Colorado is employing the “true lender” theory and the Second Circuit’s decision in Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC to challenge two bank-model lending programs.  Specifically, the Administrator asserts that the origination of the loans by state-chartered banks should be disregarded under the “predominant economic interest” test employed by some district courts in true lender cases, and that the banks’ power to export interest rates under federal law does not follow loans they assign to their program partners. … Continue Reading

A D.C. federal district court has dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) in April 2017 challenging the OCC’s authority to grant special purpose national bank (SPNB) charters to nondepository fintech companies.

The dismissal follows the December 2017 dismissal by a New York federal district court of a lawsuit filed by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) that also challenged the OCC’s authority to grant SPNB charters. … Continue Reading

Arizona’s Governor recently signed into law legislation that directs the state’s Attorney General to establish a “regulatory sandbox program” for the purpose of “enabl[ing] a person to obtain limited access to the market in this state to test innovative financial products or services without obtaining a license or other authorization that would otherwise apply.” … Continue Reading

The New York Department of Financial Services has sent a letter directed to businesses that the DFS “understands…may be involved in online lending in the State of New York” and that asks recipients to complete a “New York Marketplace Lending Survey” that they can access online.

The letter states that the DFS is conducting the survey to gather information for a public report that it is required to issue by July 1, 2018 and which must include information about online lenders operating in New York and their business practices, including lending practices, interest rates and costs charged, and consumer complaints and investigations about the industry. … Continue Reading