In November 2016, the CFPB issued a request for information about market practices related to consumer access to financial information.  The RFI contained a series of questions about current market practice related to “consumer-permissioned access,” a term used by the CFPB to refer to consumer access to consumer financial account and account-related information, whether directly or through a third-party acting with the consumer’s permission. … Continue Reading

On May 24, 2017, the FTC will hold a daylong conference on identity theft in Washington, D.C.

The conference, “Planning for the Future,” will include panel discussions about how identity thieves acquire and use consumer information, how websites trade in stolen consumer information, the impact of identity theft on financial services, health care and other sectors, the challenges that identity theft victims face, and resources available to identity theft victims. … Continue Reading

The Administrator of the Uniform Consumer Credit Code for the State of Colorado, Julie Ann Meade, has filed motions to dismiss the complaints filed in federal court by two state-chartered banks seeking to permanently enjoin enforcement actions brought by the Administrator against the banks’ nonbank partners.  According to the complaints, these nonbank partners market and service loans originated by the banks, and the banks sometimes sell these loans to their partners.… Continue Reading

The Treasury Department has issued a press release announcing that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin plans to appoint Keith A. Noreika as a Deputy Comptroller and designate him the First Deputy Comptroller of the OCC.  Effective May 5, 2017, Mr. Noreika will serve as Acting Comptroller.  Comptroller Thomas J. Curry has been serving under an extension since the expiration of his term on April 9, 2017.… Continue Reading

In a new lawsuit filed in an Illinois federal district court, the CFPB alleges that four online tribal lenders engaged in unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act by attempting to collect loans that were purportedly void or uncollectible in whole or in part under state law.… Continue Reading

On Thursday, April 27, the CFPB released a report which outlines a number of strategies for promoting diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the mortgage industry, presents the business case for diversity, and provides current D&I approaches and practices used by mortgage industry participants.

D&I has been a foundational principle of the CFPB since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. … Continue Reading

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors has filed a complaint in D.C. federal district court to stop the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) from implementing its proposal to issue special purpose national bank (SPNB) charters to fintech companies.

In comments filed on the OCC’s proposal, the CSBS and others asserted that the proposal would allow fintech companies to avoid state consumer protection laws and make it more difficult for states to enforce such laws by removing their visitorial oversight. … Continue Reading

The CFPB has published a notice in the Federal Register announcing that a meeting of its Academic Research Council will be held on May 17, 2017.  The notice describes the agenda as a discussion of the methodology and direction for the CFPB’s consumer finance research. 

 … Continue Reading

The CFPB’s newly-released Spring 2017 edition of Supervisory Highlights covers supervisory activities generally completed between September and December 2016.  The report indicates that  supervisory resolutions resulted in restitution payments of approximately $6.1 million to more than 16,000 consumers and notes that “[r]ecent non-public resolutions were reached in several auto finance origination matters.” … Continue Reading

The CFPB recently submitted an amicus brief to the Eighth Circuit, arguing that a debt collector cannot avoid liability under the FDCPA when it falsely represents the amount of a debt to a consumer’s attorney, rather than to the consumer herself.  The Bureau also contends that the violation of the statutory right to receive truthful information about the amount of a debt is a sufficient injury to confer Article III standing under Spokeo, Inc.… Continue Reading