CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
The CFPB announced that, jointly with the New York Attorney General, it has filed a lawsuit in a New York federal court against three companies that purchased consumer debts and two of the companies’ individual principals alleging that the defendants engaged in a “massive illegal debt-collection scheme.”
The complaint alleges that the defendants’ conduct violated…
On September 15th, the FTC will hold a workshop to examine the testing and evaluation of disclosures that companies make to consumers about advertising claims, privacy practices, and other information. The FTC’s workshop will explore how to test the effectiveness of these disclosures to ensure consumers notice them, understand them, and can use them in…
On May 11, 2016, the CFPB sued All American Check Cashing, Mid-State Finance and their President and owner Michael E. Gray. It alleged that the Defendants engaged in abusive, deceptive, and unfair conduct in making certain payday loans, failing to refund overpayments on those loans, and cashing consumers’ checks.
The CFPB’s claims are mundane. The…
On Thursday, May 11, 2016 in Chicago, I moderated the “CFPB Speaks” panel which was the lead-off panel at the sold-out Practicing Law Institute 21st Annual Consumer Financial Services Institute. The CFPB speakers were: Jeff Ehrlich, Deputy Assistant Director, Office of Enforcement, Paul Mondor, Managing Counsel, Office of Regulations and Chris Young, Senior Counsel and…
The Dodd-Frank Act gave the CFPB authority to regulate “unfair, deceptive, or abusive” acts or practices. Republican Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer has introduced the “Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices Uniformity Act,” (H.R. 5112), which would remove the CFPB’s authority to regulate abusive acts or practices.
The bill would also prohibit the CFPB from…
In his prepared remarks to the Consumer Bankers Association yesterday, Director Cordray attempted to defend the CFPB’s “regulation by enforcement” approach that has been widely criticized by industry.
Director Cordray’s remarks included the surprising acknowledgment that despite indications by his colleagues to the contrary, the reach of CFPB consent orders is not limited to…
An attempt by the Pennsylvania Attorney General to use her Dodd-Frank Section 1042 authority recently met with only partial success in Pennsylvania federal district court. Section 1042 allows state attorneys general and regulators to bring civil actions for violations of Dodd-Frank’s prohibition of unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP). The AG’s action in…
A new FTC report, “Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion? Understanding the Issues,” warns that certain uses of big data consisting of consumer information may implicate various federal consumer protection laws. In the report, the FTC puts companies on notice that it intends “to monitor areas where big data practices could violate…
A federal district court has refused to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the CFPB in December 2013 against CashCall, several related companies and their principal, which asserted UDAAP violations based on the defendants’ efforts to collect loans that were purportedly void in whole or in part under state law. The companies allegedly funded, purchased, serviced…
This post is the second in a series we’re writing on the FTC’s workshop on online lead generation entitled Follow the Lead. In our first post, we explored how online lead generation works. Here, we will discuss two fundamental questions surrounding the role that disclosures can and should play in the industry: What…
