The New York State Department of Financial Services has released a proposed rule that would regulate overdraft, non-sufficient funds (NSF), and return deposit item fees charged by banks, trust companies, savings banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions and investment companies.

Under the proposal, announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul, state-chartered banking institutions would be prohibited from charging:

  • Overdraft and NSF fees on overdrafts of less than $20.
… Continue Reading

The CFPB and the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts—a group of fifteen securitization trusts that acquire, pool, and securitize student loans—have entered into a proposed final consent judgment that, if approved, would resolve  the CFPB’s allegations that the Trusts unlawfully filed defective debt collection lawsuits to collect on private student loans.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has taken action against the Draper & Kramer Mortgage Corp. (DKMC) based on allegations of discriminatory lending activities that, according to the CFPB, discouraged homebuyers from applying to the company for home mortgage loans in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the Chicago and Boston areas.

The CFPB alleged that from 2019 through 2021, DKMC, a non-bank mortgage lender based in Downers Grove, Illinois, engaged in redlining, and that this resulted in the company significantly underperforming its peers in lending activity in the Chicago and Boston areas.… Continue Reading

If there was any doubt about how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) (under current leadership) feels about what it calls “home equity contracts” (also known as shared appreciation agreements, shared equity agreements, home equity investments, among other names) its actions last week make it clear. 

Among the flurry of issuances, enforcement actions and guidance coming out of the CFPB in the lead up to January 20, the bureau took aim at home contracts with i) the issuance of a Consumer Advisory warning consumers about the risks of these types of agreements, ii) the issuance of an Issue Spotlight, which similarly addressed potential risks to homeowners and provided a detailed summary of how these types of products typically work and how their features compare other home equity products, and iii) the filing of an amicus brief in Roberts v.… Continue Reading

Argus Information and Advisory Services, a subsidiary of TransUnion, has agreed that it will not seek any government contracts with the CFPB for three years, following action by several government agencies.

Argus analyzes credit card and credit report data along with certain economic data to provide benchmarking and market analysis products to commercial and government clients.… Continue Reading

Today’s podcast episode is a repurposing of Alan Kaplinsky’s “fireside chat” with Kathy Kraninger, the Director of the CFPB during the second half of President Trump’s presidency from December 2018 until January 2021. (This was originally the first half of a webinar we did on January 6, 2025 which was entitled “The Impact of the Election on the CFPB – Supervision and Enforcement.”… Continue Reading

Led by the California Mortgage Bankers Association, five lenders have made commitments to provide mortgage relief for the victims of the California wildfires.

The five institutions are Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo.

The banks will offer up to a 90-day grace period on mortgage payments, 90-day waiver of late fees, and 60- to 90-day moratorium on new foreclosures for property owners whose structures were damaged or destroyed.… Continue Reading

Earlier this month, the CFPB issued a report titled Strengthening State-Level Consumer Protection.  The report argues, among other things, that states should “[r]evitalize private enforcement” by promulgating additional UDAAP laws and regulations that permit consumers to file “representational and “organizational” actions against companies because the widespread use of arbitration clauses by companies has “severely constrained consumers’ ability to enforce the law.”… Continue Reading

We are very pleased to report that the CFPB has denied a Petition for Rulemaking filed by a group of consumer advocate organizations that would prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts in favor of arbitration clauses that would permit consumers to choose between arbitration and litigation only after a dispute has arisen. … Continue Reading

President Trump on Monday issued an Executive Order that prohibits most federal agencies from issuing proposed rules until an administration-appointed agency head reviews the regulation.

The President also imposed a hiring freeze at most federal agencies through another Executive Order.

The Executive Orders do not expressly exclude independent agencies, such as the CFPB.… Continue Reading