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For decades, the debate over arbitration agreements and class action waivers in consumer financial services contracts has largely played out in courtrooms, before regulators and Congress, and in academic journals. Advocates and critics have debated issues ranging from consumer access to justice and deterrence to litigation costs and whether the benefits of arbitration are ultimately passed along to consumers.… Continue Reading

The SpaceX IPO generated enormous attention for obvious reasons. It was the largest IPO in history, and the company’s stock price initially surged after trading began. But an important legal development associated with the IPO has received considerably less attention: SpaceX adopted an unusually comprehensive shareholder dispute-resolution regime (the “Regime”) in its bylaws.… Continue Reading

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming consumer financial services, and consumer debt collection is no exception. AI already is being used in a variety of first-party and third-party consumer debt collection activities, ranging from account scoring and communication strategies to payment-plan optimization and compliance monitoring.

In our Consumer Finance Monitor podcast show being released today, our special guest John McNamara, Chief Growth Officer at Avtal (a fintech and software as a service (SAS) company that provides an AI-powered, white-labeled digital engagement platform to help third-party consumer debt collection agencies automate communication and process self-service payments) and  a former CFPB senior official who played a significant role in developing Regulation F promulgated under the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act explained that the debt collection industry needs to distinguish genuine AI applications from the marketing hype surrounding the technology.… Continue Reading

Artificial intelligence is rapidly moving from helping consumers make purchasing decisions to making those decisions for them. So-called “agentic AI” or “AI shopping agents” could search for financial products, compare prices and terms, negotiate with providers, open or close accounts, switch providers and complete transactions without the consumer participating in each step.… Continue Reading

First and Ninth Circuit decisions conflict with the Second Circuit, while the OCC has concluded that state escrow-interest laws are preempted

National bank preemption is headed toward another Supreme Court showdown. The Second Circuit has held that New York’s mortgage escrow-interest requirement is preempted, directly conflicting with the First Circuit’s decision upholding a comparable Rhode Island requirement and the Ninth Circuit’s decision allowing a similar California law to remain in effect.… Continue Reading

In the latest episode of the Consumer Finance Monitor podcast that we are releasing today, we explore a topic that is becoming increasingly important for financial services companies and virtually every other business operating in today’s digital economy: how privacy, cybersecurity, and AI governance can be transformed from compliance obligations into sources of customer confidence, resilience, and competitive advantage.… Continue Reading

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming consumer financial services. AI systems now influence decisions involving credit underwriting, fraud detection, customer service, pricing, marketing, and even personalized financial advice. While these technologies promise greater efficiency and innovation, they also raise profound questions about transparency, fairness, accountability, and consumer protection. 

In today’s episode of the award-winning Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast, our host, Alan Kaplinsky (founder, chair for 25 years and now Senior Counsel of the Consumer Financial Services Group at Ballard Spahr LLP) is joined by Delicia Hand, a nationally recognized expert on digital civil rights, AI governance, and consumer protection who leads AI policy initiatives at Consumer Reports.… Continue Reading

On April 23, we will release a timely and wide-ranging episode of the Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast featuring Sam Levine, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP). In this episode, Commissioner Levine offers an inside look at how New York City is stepping up its consumer protection efforts at a moment of significant diminishment at the federal level, particularly the CFPB.  … Continue Reading

The podcast show we are releasing today is a repurposing of part 2 of a webinar we produced on August 13, 2025, which explored the U.S. Supreme Court’s pivotal 6-3 decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., a ruling that significantly curtails the use of nationwide or “universal” injunctions. A universal injunction is one which confers benefits on non-parties to the lawsuit.… Continue Reading

I am delighted to share with our blog readers a new initiative to feature more women as guests on weekly episodes of our Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast.  We are launching the initiative with an episode this week featuring special guest Abby Hogan, a regulatory attorney and former analyst in the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.… Continue Reading