AB 539 was cleared by the California Senate’s Banking Committee on June 26.  The bill would change several aspects of the California Financing Law (CFL), including by setting new interest rate caps, imposing new rules governing loan duration, and prohibiting prepayment penalties.  For example, while the CFL does not set a maximum interest rate on loans of $2,500 or more, AB 539 would cap the interest rate at 36% plus the federal funds rate on loans of $2,500 or more but less than $10,000.… Continue Reading

Utah is now taking applications for its new regulatory sandbox program.  In this podcast, we interview Rep. Marc Roberts, the sponsor of the bill that created the program, and Bryan Cowley, the Utah regulator who will oversee the program’s administration.  Topics discussed include the bill’s history and objectives, implementation plans, reciprocity with other sandbox programs, the physical location requirement, confidentiality of applicant information, and liability exposure.… Continue Reading

The National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB) and two individual small business owners have joined the lawsuit filed against the CFPB in May 2019 by the California Reinvestment Coalition in a California federal district court seeking a declaration that the CFPB’s failure to issue regulations implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act violates the Administrative Procedure Act and requiring the CFPB to promptly issue such regulations.… Continue Reading

The Consumer Education Foundation, a California-based nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, has filed a petition with the FTC asking it to investigate the use of “secret surveillance scores” in the U.S. marketplace.

Such scores are claimed to be the product of analytics companies that “amass thousands or even tens of thousands of demographic and lifestyle data points about consumers, with the help of an estimated 121 data brokers and aggregators who are able to purchase our personal data from consumer-facing companies across the global marketplace.” … Continue Reading

Seila Law has filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling that the CFPB’s single-director-removable-only-for-cause structure is constitutional.  The petition follows the entry of an order by the Ninth Circuit granting Seila Law’s motion for a stay of the Ninth Circuit’s mandate in the case pending resolution of the petition by the Supreme Court.… Continue Reading

A group of 20 education organizations and individuals have sent a letter to the leaders of the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Finance Committee urging Congress to pass legislation that would provide a legal framework for colleges and universities and other education providers to offer income share agreements (ISAs) to students. … Continue Reading

As previously reported, in May 2019 the CFPB issued both a proposal to modify the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rule, and an advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comment on three specific aspects of the HMDA rule:

  • The new data points added by the CFPB based on discretionary authority.
… Continue Reading

We can add Maine to the list of states to have enacted a “Student Loan Bill of Rights” that requires student loan servicers to be licensed. On June 20th, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed into law LD 995, “An Act To Establish a Student Loan Bill of Rights To License and Regulate Student Loan Servicers,” a bill which the legislature had passed unanimously.… Continue Reading

While directed at third party debt collectors, the CFPB’s proposed rules, if adopted, would significantly impact creditors and their first party collection partners.  In this podcast, we look at the actions the proposal would require creditors to take before assigning a debt for collection, what the proposal would mean for third party oversight, and how the CFPB or state regulators might apply the proposal directly to first party collections.… Continue Reading

In a decision issued on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Kisor v. Wilkie, declined to overrule a line of cases instructing courts to defer to an agency’s interpretation of its own regulation, a doctrine sometimes referred to as “Auer deference.”  The name derives from Auer v. Robbins, a 1997 U.S.… Continue Reading