The CFPB has issued its final Advisory Opinions Policy, which allows stakeholders to request interpretive guidance “to resolve regulatory uncertainty.”  While advisory opinions (AO) may address uncertainty in both statutes and regulations, the Bureau states in the Policy that it “will focus primarily on clarifying ambiguities in its regulations.”  The Policy was accompanied by the release of two AOs, one dealing with earned wage access (EWA) products and the other dealing with certain education loan products that refinance or consolidate a borrower’s pre-existing federal, or federal and private, education loans.… Continue Reading

The FDIC and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors issued a joint advisory to make financial institutions aware of a 2018 amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act that provides that a financial institution may, but is not required, to offer a loan rehabilitation program (Section 602 Program) to private education loan borrowers whose credit reports contain a reported default on a private education loan.… Continue Reading