An appeal pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is poised to decide whether an arbitration agreement that requires mass arbitration disputes to be resolved by multiple rounds of bellwether arbitrations lawfully facilitates a quicker and more efficient resolution of the disputes than would be achieved by pursuing thousands of individual arbitrations—as appellant Verizon Wireless, Inc.… Continue Reading

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the unopposed request of the Community Financial Services Association for a 30-day extension until January 13, 2023 to file its brief in opposition to the CFPB’s certiorari petition seeking review of the Fifth Circuit panel decision in Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd.… Continue Reading

On November 17, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced in a blog post that it is in seeking to build a new data set that “will allow for a more robust understanding of market trends” in the auto market.  According to the CFPB, over 100 million Americans have an auto loan, and auto loan balances (currently estimated at $1.5 trillion nationally) are on pace to surpass student loans as the second-largest debt category in 2023. … Continue Reading

The Federal Communications Commission ruled this month that “ringless voicemail” to wireless phones is a “call” made using an artificial or prerecorded voice and therefore subject to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act robocall prohibition.  The TCPA prohibits making any non-emergency call using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice to a wireless telephone number without the prior express consent of the called party. … Continue Reading

On December 22, 2021, New York State Senate Bill 2767A was signed into law. The Bill establishes the Private Student Loan Refinancing Task Force (the “Task Force”), which was charged with “study[ing] and analyz[ing] ways lending institutions that offer non-federal student loans to students of New York institutions of higher education can be incentivized and encouraged to create student loan refinance programs.”… Continue Reading

In a recent blog post, the CFPB announced that it has started sharing consumer complaint data with local governments through its Government Portal.  The Government Portal gives local, state, and federal government agencies access to more granular information about consumers’ complaints and companies’ responses than the public is able to view through the CFPB’s public-facing Consumer Complaint Database. … Continue Reading

The CFPB recently released two reports concerning tenant background checks.  One report, “Consumer Snapshot: Tenant Background Checks,” discusses consumer complaints received by the CFPB that relate to tenant screening by landlords.  The other report, “Tenant Background Checks Market,” looks at the practices of the tenant screening industry.… Continue Reading

Having stood up and promoted the whistleblower program at the CFPB, it appears that Richard Cordray may now be taking similar steps at Federal Student Aid (“FSA”).  On November 10, the Department of Education (“ED”) and FSA issued a bulletin inviting whistleblowers to provide information about potential violations of the Higher Education Act (“HEA”) and its implementing regulations. … Continue Reading

We first review the origins of mortgage redlining and discuss the concept of reverse redlining and new theories of redlining.  We then look at a wide range of topics including: the application of redlining enforcement to non-banks; the use of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Fair Housing Act to challenge redlining; activity at state level targeting redlining; the types of evidence regulators will look for when examining for redlining or bringing an enforcement action; potential penalties for redlining violations; what steps may be required for remediation of redlining; and how a bank or non-bank can build a compliance program to avoid redlining.… Continue Reading

With 72% voting in favor, Arizonans approved Proposition 209 decreasing the maximum lawful annual interest rate on “medical debt” from 10% to 3%, and increasing the amount of the homestead and other exemptions. These changes, which are effective immediately following certification of the vote and issuance of a proclamation by the governor (the governor does not have the authority to veto), only apply prospectively.… Continue Reading