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A New York Times report last month that the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has commenced an investigation into the widening practice of employers paying hourly employees through the use of prepaid payroll cards has triggered a group of 16 Democratic U.S. Senators to send a letter to the CFPB raising concerns about fees paid by low-wage workers using payroll cards. … Continue Reading

As we reported, on May 28, 2013, Democratic members of the House Committee on Financial Services sent a letter to Director Cordray requesting information about the CFPB’s activities related to auto fair lending, including “the methodology the CFPB has adopted to determine whether fair lending violations exist.”

In his response dated June 20, Director Cordray states that a typical fair lending exam of an “indirect auto lender would include a review of credit denials, interest rates quoted by the lender to the dealer (called ‘buy rates’), and any discretionary mark-up of the buy rate by the dealer (the interest rate quoted by the dealer to the consumer minus the ‘buy rate’).”… Continue Reading

We have previously blogged about the CFPB’s laser-like focus on the fair lending practices of banks and non-banks purchasing auto finance consumer contracts from auto dealers. See here, here, here, here, and here.

In many of our posts, we have been very critical of the Bureau’s deployment of the disparate impact theory for identifying violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.… Continue Reading

With the January 1, 2013 deadline for using the new CFPB model FCRA forms on the horizon, the CFPB apparently took another look at those forms and realized that they contained a few glitches.  On November 14, the CFPB published a notice in the Federal Register correcting various typos and technical errors, effective immediately. … Continue Reading

We’d like to take this opportunity to remind our clients and friends that the standard FCRA notices that used to refer to the FTC, namely, the Summary of Consumer Rights, the Notice of Furnisher Responsibilities, and the Notice to Users of Consumer Reports of Their Obligations Under the FCRA, all need to be revised to reflect the enhanced role of the CFPB under the FCRA.… Continue Reading

On Monday September 10, the CFPB participated in an interagency discussion hosted by the Federal Reserve on servicemember protections and SCRA compliance.  Representatives from the prudential regulators and the Department of Justice also participated in the webinar.  Holly Petraeus, Assistant Director of the CFPB’s Office of Servicemember Affairs, kicked off the substantive portion of the discussion, highlighting what she identified as the two top issues facing military homeowners that were raised during her visits to roughly 35 military installations.  … Continue Reading

Next Monday, September 10, the federal financial regulatory agencies will host an interagency discussion on servicemember protections and SCRA compliance issues. The discussion topics include:

  • Permanent Change of Station Guidance
  • HAMP Enhancements
  • Short Sale Assistance for Military Homeowners
  • Recent Enforcement Actions
  • SCRA Compliance Tips

The discussion will be followed by a Q&A session.… Continue Reading

The CFPB’s participation in a memorandum brief filed by the Department of Justice in support of the constitutionality of a provision of the Fair Credit Reporting Act is the most recent example of the CFPB’s activist approach. As we reported, the CFPB previously announced that it’s committed to filing amicus briefs in cases involving federal consumer financial protection laws, and has already filed amicus briefs in at least four federal appellate court cases involving a Truth in Lending rescission issue and in two federal appellate court cases involving Fair Debt Collection Practices Act issues.… Continue Reading

Dodd-Frank’s definition of “financial product or service” clarifies that those offering public records information retrieval or fraud prevention services are not only outside the reach of the Bureau, but also not subject to the FCRA.

Yesterday, Darryl May and I filed a memorandum of law in Fuges v. Southwest Financial Services, Ltd.… Continue Reading

A significant new filing on March 31 in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, National Treasury Employees Union v. Vought (Case No. 25-5091), purportedly provides the most up-to-date, detailed picture yet of how leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) intends to dramatically scale back the agency’s operations—if permitted to do so by the courts.… Continue Reading