CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
Recently, Professor Jeff Sovern and I exchanged views on whether the CFPB could (or should) add arbitration rulemaking to its regulatory agenda. Professor Sovern has now suggested that the CFPB’s 2015 Study of consumer arbitration would support a new regulation. It would not.
The CFPB’s earlier final arbitration rule was overridden by the Congress under…
Just one day after announcing that it was launching a new system to provide guidance to other agencies with consumer financial protection responsibilities on how the CFPB intends to enforce federal consumer financial laws, the CFPB released its first Consumer Financial Protection Circular (2022-02) addressing deceptive representations involving the FDIC’s name or logo or deposit…
Opportunity Financial, LLC (OppFi) has filed a Demurrer to the cross-complaint filed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) in which it asks the California trial court to reject the DFPI’s attempt to apply California usury law to loans made through OppFi’s partnership with FinWise Bank (Bank) by alleging that OppFi is…
The Connecticut Department of Banking (“Department”) has issued a temporary cease and desist order (“Order”) that directs SoLo Funds, Inc., (“SoLo”) a fintech company that uses peer-to-peer technology to assist consumers in obtaining small dollar loans from third-party lenders, to immediately stop engaging in such activity because it is not licensed as a small loan…
After moving alone in 2020 to reform its Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has joined the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Federal Reserve Board in issuing a joint notice of proposed rulemaking setting forth proposed amendments to their regulations implementing the CRA. The action follows…
As expected, the American Law Institute (“ALI”) approved the Restatement of the Law, Consumer Contracts yesterday at ALI’s 2022 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. The Restatement sets forth a series of rules that are intended to represent the current black letter law for contracts between businesses and consumers and culminates an 11-year project by ALI…
The CFPB recently ordered a bank to cancel garnishment fees, review its system for processing garnishment orders, cease using contracts which limit consumer rights, and pay a $10 million penalty to the CFPB’s Civil Penalty Fund.
The garnishment process is a method for creditors to recover amounts that a judgment debtor owes from a…
For a more detailed discussion of the new Restatement, we encourage you to also listen to the episode of the Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast released today with Ballard Spahr’s Alan Kaplinsky (who is on the ALI Board of Advisers to the new Restatement) and special guest Steven Weise from the ALI Council.
The American Law…
With ALI’s members poised to approve the new Restatement, providers need to understand the Restatement’s impact on their consumer agreements, particularly those entered into online. After reviewing the rationale for the new Restatement and ALI’s approach to developing the rules it contains, we look at the issues covered by each section, such as the rules…
In Wednesday’s edition of Consumer Law & Policy Blog, Professor Jeff Sovern laments that during Director Rohit Chopra’s recent testimony before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, neither he nor any member of the Committees mentioned “arbitration” as an action item on the CFPB’s agenda. Professor Sovern expresses hope that…
