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A group of banking trade associations have filed a “Petition for Expedited Declaratory Ruling, Clarification, or Waiver” with the FCC regarding how the Telephone Communication Protection Act’s “emergency purposes” exception applies to phone calls and text messages placed by banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions on matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic.… Continue Reading

Twenty-one state attorneys general and the District of Columbia attorney general have sent a letter to the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) “to remind them” of their legal obligations under federal and state law as well as under agreements between the AGs and the CRAs entered into in 2015.

The letter appears intended to serve as a warning to the CRAs that they should not take comfort from the CFPB’s “recent announcement suggest[ing] that it will not enforce the FCRA’s 30- or 45-day deadline to investigate consumer disputes requirements during the COVID-19 crisis.” … Continue Reading

The CFPB and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) have announced a new joint initiative, the “Borrower Protection Program.”  The initiative is intended to enable the agencies to share mortgage servicing information during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the CFPB’s press release, the CFPB will make complaint information and analytical tools available to the FHFA via a secure electronic interface and the FHFA will make available to the Bureau information about forbearances, modifications and other loss mitigation initiatives undertaken by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.… Continue Reading

Our webinar yesterday, “Consumer Financial Regulatory and Litigation Fallout from the COVID-19 Crisis,” in which we were joined by special guest speakers Richard Cordray, former CFPB Director, and John Roddy, Partner at Bailey & Glasser and prominent plaintiffs’ class action lawyer, highlighted the regulatory and litigation risks the crisis is expected to create for members of the consumer financial services industry.  … Continue Reading

The CFPB has issued its annual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act report covering the CFPB’s and FTC’s activities in 2019.

With regard to the CFPB’s debt collection rulemaking, in her opening message, Director Kraninger only references the Bureau’s May 2019 proposal.  She does not mention the Bureau’s supplemental proposal issued last month that would require debt collectors to make specified disclosures when collecting time-barred debts. … Continue Reading

Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Financial Services, Banking & Financial Institutions, and Mortgage Banking Groups are closely monitoring regulatory developments in connection with the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.  To provide one location where members of the banking and consumer financial services industries can access federal regulatory guidance and other information that relates to issues of particular concern to their industries, we have created this COVID-19 Banking and Consumer Financial Services Resource Center.… Continue Reading

Last week, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) requesting information about how OCR “plans to address alarming racial disparities in our federal student loan system through vigorous enforcement of the nation’s civil rights laws.” Taking aim at for-profit colleges and federal student loan servicers and debt collectors, the letter requests that OCR:

  • “Detail all current and ongoing activities to address alarming racial disparities in student borrowing and student loan outcomes, including any relevant enforcement actions OCR has taken since the beginning of the Trump Administration in January 2017;
  • “Launch a comprehensive investigation into the roles that predatory colleges and the student loan industry play in contributing to racial disparities in student borrowing and student loan outcomes, including recruitment and loan counseling practices, servicing and debt collection practices (including the charging of fines and fees on defaulted loans), and access to repayment plans and debt cancellation options for borrowers of color; [and]
  • “Develop a new plan to address racial disparities, which should include new policy guidance to all entities involved in federal student aid programs regarding their current responsibilities under federal civil rights law, and any recommendations to Congress for how to legislatively address racial disparities in student borrowing and student loan outcomes.”
… Continue Reading

The CFPB has entered into a settlement to resolve the lawsuit filed against it in May 2019 seeking a declaration that the CFPB’s failure to issue regulations implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act violates the Administrative Procedure Act and an order requiring the Bureau to promptly issue such regulations.  The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was filed in a California federal district court, are the California Reinvestment Coalition, the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, and two individual small business owners.… Continue Reading

On February 26, 2020, the CFPB held a symposium on Consumer Access to Financial Records and Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Section 1033 addresses consumers’ rights to access information about their own financial accounts, and permits the CFPB to prescribe rules concerning how a provider of consumer financial products or services must make a consumer’s account information available to him or her, “including information related to any transaction, or series of transactions, to the account including costs, charges, and usage data.”… Continue Reading