The most frequent consumer debt collection complaints filed with the CFPB in 2023 were attempts to collect debts that actually were not owed, the bureau said in its annual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act report.

The CFPB said that those complaints amounted to 53% of the debt collection complaints filed with the bureau in 2023.… Continue Reading

On June 4, the CFPB issued Circular 2024-03 (“Circular”) warning that the use of unlawful or unenforceable terms and conditions in contracts for consumer financial products or services may violate the prohibition on deceptive acts or practices in the Consumer Financial Protection Act. We previously drafted a blog post and Law360 article about this circular.… Continue Reading

A job applicant who claims he was not fully informed about adverse information that appeared on a background check is not entitled to relief under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the FCRA), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Aug. 20.

The court cited the Supreme Court’s decision in TransUnion LLC v.… Continue Reading

Saying it wants to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive or anticompetitive practices, the Transportation Department on Sept. 5 launched an investigation into the rewards programs operated by the nation’s four largest airlines.

As part of that probe, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sent the four airlines letters ordering them to provide records and submit reports about the operation of their programs.… Continue Reading

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., on August 30, 2024 introduced in the House of Representatives a resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that would nullify the CFPB’s final nonbank registry rule.

The rule, issued in June, will require certain nonbank entities to register certain covered enforcement or court orders.  Additionally, CFPB-supervised covered nonbanks must comply with ongoing attestation reporting requirements on their compliance with such orders.… Continue Reading

We are very fortunate to have Nick St. John, Director of Federal Compliance at America’s Credit Unions, as our guest speaker in this podcast on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and federal banking regulators regarding the enhancement and modernization of anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (“AML/CFT”) compliance programs under the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”).… Continue Reading

As reported in Public Citizen’s Consumer Law & Policy Blog, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently agreed to review Chilutti v. Uber Technologies, Inc., in which a divided panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court (and later the Superior Court en banc) held that courts must apply a “stricter burden of proof” when asked to enforce an arbitration agreement in a company’s online terms and conditions because arbitration waives the constitutional right to a jury trial.… Continue Reading

On May 30, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Cantero v. Bank of America, reversing and remanding the case to the Second Circuit. Rather than articulating a bright line test for preemption, the Supreme Court instructed the circuit court to conduct a “nuanced analysis” to determine whether the National Bank Act preempts a New York state law that requires the payment of 2% interest on mortgage escrow accounts.… Continue Reading

On August 28, 2024, the CFPB issued a consumer advisory warning that many video games and “virtual worlds” increasingly resemble traditional banking and payment systems that allow the storage and exchange of billions of dollars in assets, including virtual currencies.

The advisory emphasizes that these “non-traditional” markets have many of the risks associated with real-world transactions, as well as their own unique risks, but without gaming companies providing protection against such risks.… Continue Reading

The CFPB announced the availability of its beta platform for the small business lending data collection rule pursuant to section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The CFPB has invited financial institutions to test the platform by uploading and using test files provided in the CFPB’s test file repository, or by uploading the financial institution’s own test or sample files.… Continue Reading