In a memorandum issued on January 26, 2021, President Biden has ordered the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) to “as soon as practicable, take all steps necessary to examine the effects of” the final rule issued by HUD in September 2020 (“2020 Rule”) revising its 2013 Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) disparate impact standards (“2013 Rule”).… Continue Reading

On December 21, 2020, the CFPB issued an advisory opinion that addresses regulatory uncertainty related to certain aspects of special purpose credit programs (“SPCPs”) designed and implemented by for-profit organizations. The advisory opinion was issued as an interpretive rule that will be published in the Federal Register and therefore is exempt from the notice and comment rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.… Continue Reading

On September 21, the CFPB finalized its proposal to amend Regulation B requirements related to the collection of consumer ethnicity and race information, in order to resolve the differences between Regulation B and revised Regulation C (the “Final Rule”).  This Final Rule is effective on January 1, 2018, the same effective date for most of the 2015 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Final Rule. … Continue Reading

Last Friday in New Orleans, the ABA Business Law Section Consumer Financial Services Committee hosted a fascinating program about CFPB enforcement at the Section’s 2017 Spring Meeting.  The program was entitled:  “Too Much or Too Little?  Is the CFPB Exercising its Enforcement Power with Appropriate Restraint?”  As might  be expected, the two industry representatives on the panel criticized certain of the CFPB’s enforcement initiatives, including, among others, the PHH case and the use of disparate impact analysis in connection with  discretionary dealer pricing to assess Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) compliance by auto finance companies. … Continue Reading

On March 24, the CFPB announced a proposal to amend Regulation B requirements related to the collection of consumer ethnicity and race information, in order to resolve the differences between Regulation B and revised Regulation C.  These proposed rule amendments are effective on January 1, 2018, the same effective date as the 2015 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Final Rule.… Continue Reading