Two bills relevant to consumer finance have been passed by the New York Assembly and Senate and are awaiting Governor Cuomo’s signature.

The first bill, S3704, would amend New York’s plain language requirement to extend its application to consumer contracts involving up to $250,000.  The requirement currently does not apply to consumer contracts involving more than $100,000. … Continue Reading

The CFPB has issued a new report on tradelines reported by third-party debt collectors as reflected on credit reports compiled by nationwide consumer reporting agencies.  The third-party collector tradelines consist of those reported by debt buyers and those reported by non-buyers (i.e. where the debt is still owned by the original creditor). … Continue Reading

The CFPB has issued an update to its 2016 advisory that contained recommendations for banks and credit unions on how to prevent, recognize, report, and respond to financial exploitation of older Americans.

The 2016 advisory’s recommendations addressed six categories, one of which was the reporting of suspected elder financial exploitation (EFE) to relevant federal, state, and local authorities. … Continue Reading

On July 15, the Democratic majority of the House Financial Services Committee introduced draft legislation, titled “Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance Act,” targeting Libra, Facebook’s contemplated new digital currency. As a follow up, during her July 17 opening statement before testimony from a Facebook executive, Chairwoman Maxine Waters expressed serious concerns about Libra and asked Facebook to put it on hold.… Continue Reading

As previously reported, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued Mortgagee Letter 2019-06 in April of 2019 to impose new documentation requirements for down payment assistance provided by government entities to be used in connection with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured loans. CBC Mortgage Agency, which is an instrumentality of the Cedar Band of Paiutes Indian American tribe and operates the Chenoa Fund down payment assistance program, challenged HUD’s action the in the U.S.… Continue Reading

In this podcast, we discuss the CFPB’s proposed requirement for a collector to communicate with a debtor before furnishing information about the debt to a consumer reporting agency and proposed prohibition on selling or transferring a debt that is the subject of an identity theft report.  We also look at the challenges collectors would face in complying with both the proposed FDCPA dispute rules and the current FCRA dispute process and the proposal’s implications for the credit reporting system.… Continue Reading

Three more bills dealing with credit reporting were passed on Tuesday by the House Financial Services Committee.  Like the four bills passed by the Committee last week, none of the bills passed yesterday received any Republican votes.

The bills, which are listed below, would make various amendments to the FCRA, including those described below:

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As readers of our blog know, our consumer financial services group has been at the forefront of legal developments involving new technologies.  To align with the work that we’ve been doing in the financial technology space and to even better serve our clients in meeting the legal challenges in this rapidly developing landscape, Ballard Spahr has created a cross-disciplinary Fintech team that brings together the firm’s consumer financial services attorneys with lawyers focused on privacy and data security, intellectual property, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and emerging companies and their investors.  … Continue Reading

Four bills dealing with credit reporting were passed last Thursday by the House Financial Services Committee.  While there has been bipartisan support for credit reporting reform, none of the bills received any Republican votes.

The bills, which are listed below, would make various amendments to the FCRA, including those described below:

  • The “Improving Credit Reporting for All Consumers Act” would impose new requirements for conducting reinvestigations of consumer disputes and related standards, require consumer reporting agencies to create a webpage providing information about consumer dispute rights, require furnishers to retain records necessary to substantiate the accuracy and completeness of furnished information, create a right for consumers to appeal the results of a reinvestigation, prohibit automatic renewals of consumer reporting and credit scoring products and services, and require a credit scoring model to treat multiple inquiries for a credit report or credit score made in connection with certain consumer credit products within a 120-period as a single inquiry.
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There was movement last week on two California bills that we have been tracking closely and which could substantially alter the lending and brokering landscape under the California Financing Law (“CFL”).

On July 9th, AB-539, which proposes to cap interest rates at 36% plus the federal funds rate on CFL loans of $2,500 to $10,000, passed the Senate Committee on Judiciary and was sent to the Appropriations Committee where we believe the bill will be heard around the end of August.… Continue Reading