I am pleased to report that Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Financial Services Group was once again ranked nationally by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in all three national consumer finance categories: Compliance, Enforcement and Investigations, and Litigation. Chambers has year-after-year ranked our Consumer Financial Services Group ever since it began ranking firms in the U.S.… Continue Reading

In its motion for a summary judgment in a lawsuit challenging the regulation, the CFPB stated it has concluded that the Section 1033 Rule (Rule) exceeds the agency’s statutory authority to create an open banking system by—among other things—requiring that consumer data be shared with third parties.

The motion states that “the limited legislative history confirms what the statute’s text and structure make clear: the statute was intended simply to ensure that consumers would have access to their own information.”… Continue Reading

Our podcast show being released today features two former CFPB senior officers who were key employees in the Supervision Division under prior directors: Peggy Twohig and Paul Sanford. Peggy was a founding executive of the CFPB when the agency was created in 2010 and led the development of the first federal supervision program over nonbank consumer financial companies.… Continue Reading

A new Maryland law deems certain earned wage access (EWA) services to be loans. It then subjects those EWA services to the Maryland Consumer Loan Law and other consumer credit provisions, restricts the acceptance of tips by certain lenders, requires licensing or registration of certain entities offering EWA services, regulates EWA service agreements, and limits the costs and fees associated with obtaining EWA services.… Continue Reading

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed legislation making it clear that debt collection emails sent between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. do not violate Florida law.

Those are the hours that debt collectors are prohibited from communicating with debtors. Now, emails are excluded from that prohibition.

“The bill includes preamble clauses that acknowledge emails were not commonly used or explicitly contemplated when the Florida Legislature prohibited the practice of communicating with a consumer at night,” a Florida Legislature memo explaining the bill states.… Continue Reading

Alleging that Global Circulation, Inc. (GCI) threatened consumers with jail time, lawsuits, and wage garnishments to pressure them into paying debts they did not owe, the FTC entered into a stipulated order with GCI and its owner, Kenneth Redon III, to permanently ban them from the debt collection industry.

The defendants were also enjoined from making misrepresentations to consumer about legal obligations, making false statements to obtain payment information, and impersonating other businesses.… Continue Reading

A federal district court recently granted the unopposed motion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to terminate their October 2021 consent order with Trustmark National Bank (Trustmark) and to dismiss with prejudice the redlining case they brought that resulted in that consent order.

As previously reported, the agencies, along with the Comptroller of the Currency, announced the consent order at the same time that the DOJ announced its initiative to combat redlining.… Continue Reading

We are releasing today on our podcast show a repurposed webinar which we produced on May 13, 2025 entitled “What is happening at the federal agencies (other than the CFPB) that is relevant to the consumer financial services industry.”

During this podcast, we will inform you about recent developments at those other agencies, including the FTC, OCC, FDIC, FRB and DOJ (collectively, the “Agencies”) and the White House (through the issuance of Executive Orders).… Continue Reading

The CFPB is planning to repeal its Section 1033 Open Banking Rule, according to a filing in a federal lawsuit challenging the rule. On the same day the Final Rule was issued, the Banking Policy Institute (BPI) and Kentucky Bankers Association filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky seeking injunctive relief, alleging that the CFPB exceeded its statutory authority.… Continue Reading

In a move that could have ramifications for lawsuits filed by former FTC and NCUA board members, by a vote of 6-3 the Supreme Court has issued a stay that prohibits the Democratic members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board who were fired by President Trump from continuing to serve while challenging the legality of their removal.… Continue Reading