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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has held that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act does not preempt New Jersey’s common-law doctrine of necessaries whereby a spouse is jointly liable for necessary expenses incurred by the other spouse.  As a result, the plaintiff could not rely on preemption as the basis for her …

Under the leadership of Acting CFPB Director Dave Uejio, the Bureau issued an interpretive rule on March 9, 2021 clarifying that the prohibition against sex discrimination under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) and Regulation B includes sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. This prohibition includes discrimination based on actual or perceived non-conformity with traditional…

As we recently reported, the CFPB released new guidance on January 13, 2021, in an effort to give industry participants more concrete guidance about how to tackle the sometimes-daunting issue of serving customers in non-English languages.  Director Kraninger announced the guidance in a blog post of her own, and reached out with telephone calls…

The CFPB and the Arkansas Attorney General announced that they filed a proposed stipulated judgment and order settling their Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA) claims against Alder Holdings, LLC, a home-alarm company that extends closed-end credit to its customers by providing them the right to defer payment…

The Supreme Court has granted certiorari to review a $40 million class action trial judgment for statutory and punitive damages under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and its forthcoming decision later this Term will likely be the Supreme Court’s most important ruling in the consumer financial services space since its 2016 ruling in Spokeo, Inc.

Since early June 2020 when cries for racial justice resulted in a period of social unrest in the U.S., federal and state financial institution regulators have taken meaningful, proactive steps to acknowledge financial inequality issues, reach out to traditionally underserved populations to expand access to credit, and further protect consumers from discrimination. While it remains…

On July 28, 2020, the CFPB issued a request for information (“RFI”) seeking public input on how best to create a regulatory environment that expands access to credit and ensures consumers and communities are protected from discrimination in all aspects of credit transactions. The Bureau issued the RFI in lieu of a symposium it had…

The Department of Justice recently announced that it had settled a lawsuit filed in 2019 that alleged a Maryland used car dealership discriminated against African Americans in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act by offering different credit terms based on race.  The settlement includes the DOJ’s claims against the dealership’s individual owner and its…

A federal District Court judge in Nevada has dismissed a case filed by several trade associations against the Commissioner of the Financial Institutions Division (“FID”) of the Nevada Department of Business and Industry and the Nevada Attorney General. The case was brought in response to a 2019 amendment (SB 311) that changed Nevada law to…

The FTC recently announced a settlement of its lawsuit filed in a New York federal district court against a New York City car dealership and its individual general manager in which the FTC alleged that the defendants discriminated against African-American and Hispanic car buyers and engaged in other illegal business practices.  The settlement provides for…