CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
On October 16 of last year, I reported that Eric Halperin, Enforcement Director of the CFPB, announced that the CFPB intended to substantially increase the number of enforcement staff by 50% and to create a 5th litigation team. He explained:
“These additional resources will enable us to open more investigations, including matters with significant market impact and against large market actors, consistent with the Bureau’s priorities.… Continue Reading
On December 22, 2023, the Attorney General of Montana released an opinion (the “Opinion”) concluding that certain earned wage access (EWA) products are not “consumer loans” or “deferred deposit loans” under Montana law and do not, therefore, require licensure by the Montana Division of Banking and Financial Institutions. The Opinion only applies to EWA products that are:
On January 3, 2023, American Bankers Association, America’s Credit Unions, and Independent Community Bankers of America wrote a letter to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra to address their concerns that the CFPB’s proposal for rulemaking on non-sufficient funds (NSF) and overdraft fees triggers the statutorily required Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) review as the rulemaking will have a significant economic impact on banks and credits unions with assets of $850 million or less.… Continue Reading
The CFPB recently announced that the platform for the submission of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data collected in 2023 is now available for the submission of the data. The platform may be accessed here. HMDA data for 2023 must be submitted on or before March 1, 2024.
A beta testing version of the platform also is available and may be accessed here.… Continue Reading
In December 2023, the Federal Trade Commission announced its Combatting Auto Retail Scams Rule, otherwise known as the “CARS Rule,” which sets new requirements on the sale, financing, and leasing of new and used vehicles by motor vehicle dealers. The final rule prohibits certain misrepresentations in the financing process, sets disclosure requirements on dealers’ advertising and sales communications, mandates that dealers obtain consumers’ express, informed consent for charges, and prohibits the sale of add-on products or services if there is no benefit to the consumer.… Continue Reading
Revenue Based Finance Coalition (RBFC), a trade group whose members include non-banks that provide sales-based financing to businesses, filed a lawsuit last week against the CFPB in a Florida federal district court challenging the CFPB’s final small business lending rule implementing Section 1071 of Dodd-Frank. The core argument made by RBFC is that because sales-based financing does not constitute “credit” within the meaning of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B, the CFPB did not have the authority to regulate sales-based financing as “credit” under the Rule.… Continue Reading
The CFPB recently filed two amicus briefs, one in a First Circuit case involving the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the other, which was filed jointly with the Federal Trade Commission, in a Fourth Circuit case involving the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
FDCPA. The FDCPA case is Carrasquillo v.… Continue Reading
Our special guest is Andrea Boyack, Professor, University of Missouri School of Law. We first discuss the principles that underlie our current system of consumer contracts and the system’s role in promoting transactional efficiency and other objectives. Prof. Boyack then provides her views on why the application of traditional contract law to the modern consumer contract context is not in the best interests of consumers and offers a different approach to consumer contracts in which a consumers can shape the terms of their contracts. … Continue Reading
This New Year is setting up to be a momentous one for the consumer financial services industry in the United States Supreme Court. In 2024, the Supreme Court is expected to decide four impactful cases that may hold that the CFPB’s funding is unconstitutional, eliminate giving deference to CFPB, FTC and federal banking agency regulations, severely narrow National Bank Act (NBA) preemption of state laws, and limit the time during which a plaintiff may sue an agency to facially challenge an agency rule.… Continue Reading
The scope of national bank preemption is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court in Cantero v. Bank of America, N.A. A New York statute requires the payment of interest on mortgage escrow accounts and the question before the Supreme Court is whether the National Bank Act (NBA) preempts application of the New York statute to national banks. … Continue Reading
