Among the suite of consumer protection bills signed into law last month by California Governor Gavin Newsom is AB 2524. The bill, as enacted, is a less-expansive version of an assembly bill that would have created an entirely new and broad system of regulation over debt settlement companies through amendments to the Check Sellers, Bill Payers and Proraters Law.… Continue Reading

On September 25, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed several consumer protection bills, including AB 3254, which extends the right to receive a translated version of certain consumer contracts to nonparty signatories, such as guarantors or cosigners.

Under existing law, a business negotiating a covered contract in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean (the five most common non-English languages spoken in California) must provide the consumer with a translated version of the contract. … Continue Reading

The CFPB filed an amicus brief in Hopkins v. Collecto, Inc., an appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in support of the debt collector’s position that it did not violate the FDCPA by sending the plaintiff a letter that included an itemization of the plaintiff’s debt that indicated “$0.00” was owed in interest and collection fees.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in connection with its rulemaking to implement Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act.  Section 1033 requires consumer financial services providers to give consumers access to certain financial information.  Comments on the ANPR will be due no later than 90 days after the date the ANPR is published in the Federal Register.… Continue Reading

A Georgia federal district court has entered a temporary restraining order against a Georgia-based debt collection operation in response to a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission.

According to the complaint, the debt collection operation engaged in a variety of illegal debt collection practices, including:

  • “Masquerading” as law-enforcement officials, government officials or attorneys.
… Continue Reading

After reviewing the legal foundation for federal preemption of state law limits on interest, we discuss the OCC’s proposed approach for determining when a bank is the “true lender” in programs with non-bank agents, our arguments in support of the proposal made in our comment letter to the OCC, key arguments made in support of or against the proposal by other commenters, the OCC’s likely next steps, and the 2020 election’s potential impact.… Continue Reading

The CFPB and FTC have filed a joint amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit urging the court to reverse a district court ruling that an individual who had already received credit from the defendant and who was not currently applying to the defendant for credit was not an “applicant” for purposes of the ECOA’s adverse action notice requirement.… Continue Reading

Last week, in FTC v. AbbVie Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which expressly gives the FTC authority to obtain injunctive relief, does not allow a district court to order disgorgement.  In July 2020, the U.S.… Continue Reading

The CFPB recently issued a final rule that amends the Regulation Z ability to repay/qualified mortgage rule by extending the sunset date for the qualified mortgage (QM) based on a loan meeting certain product requirements and being eligible for sale to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The QM often is referred to as the “GSE Patch.”… Continue Reading

The CFPB recently released a regulatory and reporting overview reference chart for Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data to be collected in 2021. The CFPB notes that the chart is intended to be used as a reference tool for data points required to be collected, recorded, and reported under the HMDA rules, set forth in Regulation C, as amended through April 16, 2020.… Continue Reading