President Trump has issued an Executive Order that requires agencies to review all regulations “for consistency with law and Administration policy.”

In issuing the order, Trump said, “It is the policy of my Administration to focus the executive branch’s limited enforcement resources on regulations squarely authorized by constitutional Federal statutes, and to commence the deconstruction of the overbearing and burdensome administrative state.”… Continue Reading

Saying that independent agencies “have exercised enormous power over the American people without Presidential oversight,” President Trump has issued an Executive Order placing those agencies under his control.

While Trump specifically mentioned the FTC, FCC and SEC, the definition of “agency” used in the order also includes such financial regulators as the FDIC, OCC, CFPB and NCUA.… Continue Reading

On February 18, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit—following up on its August 2024 unsigned order—resolved an expedited appeal concerning a district court injunction preventing the U.S. Department of Education from proceeding with implementation of its much-debated SAVE repayment plan. The opinion, which affirms the district court, calls into question the legality of not only the SAVE plan itself, but also existing income-contingent repayment (“ICR”) plans such as PAYE and REPAYE.… Continue Reading

Oregon may become the latest state attempting to stop out-of-state banks from “exporting” home-state interest rates on loans made to Oregon consumers. Like similar legislation adopted by Colorado in 2023, House Bill 2561 explicitly provides that the state does not want certain provisions of the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDMCA) to apply to loans made in Oregon.… Continue Reading

Alleging that a Boston company “pervasively and systematically violated the state’s consumer protection laws, including mortgage and foreclosure prevention laws, putting financially vulnerable homeowners at high risk of losing their homes,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has filed suit against the firm and its holding company. 

The AG alleged that Hometap Equity Partners LLC–and HomeTap Management Systems, LLC–engaged in illegal and predatory practices targeted for financially vulnerable homeowners, according to the suit filed in Suffolk County Superior Court.… Continue Reading

Legislation that would eliminate all funding for the CFPB has been introduced in the House and Senate, with the main House sponsor now calling for the bill to be placed on a fast track by including it in budget reconciliation.

Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, has introduced H.R. 814 and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas has introduced S.… Continue Reading

Our podcast show today features Jason Mikula, publisher of Fintech Business Weekly; a newsletter going beyond the headlines to analyze the technology, regulatory and business model trends, driving the rapidly evolving financial services ecosystem at the intersection of traditional banking, payments, FinTech and crypto. We discuss his recently released book, titled “Banking as a Service: Opportunities, Challenges, and Risks of New Banking Business Models” (Kogan Page 2024).… Continue Reading

Chief Judge Virginia Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois has extended her preliminary injunction prohibiting Illinois from enforcing the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act (the “IFPA”) to cover out-of-state banks conducting business in the state.

Judge Kendall already had ruled that Illinois could not enforce the IFPA on nationally chartered banks and federal savings associations but requested additional briefing with respect to federal credit unions and out-of-state banks.… Continue Reading

A federal judge has issued an order temporarily prohibiting the Trump Administration from imposing mass layoffs and budget cuts at the CFPB.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia has scheduled a March 3 hearing in the suit filed by the National Treasury Employees Union, the National Consumer Law Center, the NAACP, the Virginia Poverty Law Center, Pastor Eva Steege and the CFPB Employee Association.… Continue Reading

Accusing the CFPB of planning to use its funding mechanism to abolish the agency, the mayor and the city council of Baltimore (the “City of Baltimore”) and the Economic Action Maryland Fund (the “Economic Fund”), a nonprofit economic assistance organization, are asking a federal judge to keep the bureau from folding.… Continue Reading