On January 14, 2025, the American Fintech Council (AFC) submitted a letter to the Ohio Department of Financial Institutions, urging it to re-examine its recent guidance on responsible bank partnerships and provide more...more
During the week of January 6, the CFPB released a “second” Winter 2024 Supervisory Highlights, focused on the agency’s most recent findings in deposits, small dollar lending, buy now, pay later (BNPL), paycheck advance...more
On December 16, the CFPB released a special edition of its Supervisory Highlights, which detailed findings from the Bureau’s recent examinations of student loan markets. The report identifies a range of violations related to...more
12/24/2024
/ Borrowers ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Federal Student Loans ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lenders ,
Loans ,
New Guidance ,
Regulation E ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Student Loan Servicers Regulation ,
Student Loans
On December 12, the CFPB released the final version of its overdraft rule that was first proposed in January. (We discussed it here.) Currently, financial institutions that extend overdraft protection are exempt from certain...more
12/16/2024
/ Banking Sector ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Unions ,
Disclosure ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Loans ,
Overdraft Fees ,
Overdraft Rule ,
Popular ,
Regulation E ,
Regulation Z ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
On November 13, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a “pilot study” on the small business lending market revealing “significant disparities” in how lenders treat black and white small business owners. As part of...more
On November 12, the CFPB released a report analyzing federal and state-level privacy protections for consumer financial data.
The current federal framework for financial data privacy relies on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act...more
On October 30, two leading fintech industry trade associations submitted comments (see comment letters here and here) in response to a joint Request for Information (RFI) issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the...more
11/4/2024
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
OCC ,
Request For Information ,
Rulemaking Process
On October 22, the CFPB announced the finalization of its Personal Financial Data Rights Rule under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The rule aims to bring the U.S. closer to an “open banking” framework by making it easier...more
10/28/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Data Controller ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
EFTA ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Personal Data ,
Proposed Rules ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
On September 24, the Governor of California signed AB 2017 (the “Act”) into law. The Act prohibits state-chartered banks and credit unions from charging consumers non-sufficient fund fees (“NSF fees”) when they initiate...more
On September 17, the CFPB issued a circular stating that financial institutions can be found liable for violating the Electronic Funds Transfer Act by charging overdraft fees if the there is no proof of consumers’ affirmative...more
On August 26, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued a decision upholding the legality of the CFPB Small Business Lending Rule (the “Rule”) (designed to implement section 1071 of the...more
On a July 19, the Federal Reserve Board announced it has issued a consent order against a Utah-based bank and its parent company for engaging in unfair and deceptive acts and practices in violation of Section 5(a)(1) of the...more
An Oklahoma-based bank has been hit with a consent order from the FDIC after posting significant losses in its first year of operation. On June 28, the FDIC announced that it took an enforcement action against the bank...more
On June 14, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) released a cease and desist order against an Arkansas-based banking-as-a-service (BaaS) provider for compliance and risk management failures. As part of the order, the bank is...more
7/2/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinTech ,
Noncompliance ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Risk Management
On June 25, the CFPB released a formal action to extend the compliance deadlines for its Section 1071 small business lending rule (previously discussed here, here, and here). Once issued, the rule was challenged in the United...more
Florida is one of several states that has enacted “de-banking” legislation that requires financial institutions to provide consumers with fair access to financial products and services. On May 3, Governor DeSantis signed into...more
On April 26, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued Mortgagee Letter 2024-06, announcing changes to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) for purchases (H4P loans), a mortgage program...more
On May 6, 2024, the CFPB resolved an enforcement action against a group of Delaware student loan trusts and a loan servicer (found here and here) for their failures to adequately respond to borrowers’ requests for relief,...more
On March 28, the FDIC released the spring edition of its consumer compliance supervisory highlights. The FDIC supervises approximately 3,000 state-chartered banks and thrifts that are not members of the Federal Reserve...more
5/13/2024
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
EFTA ,
Fair Lending ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
FTC Act ,
Regulation E ,
Regulation Z ,
Section 5 ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
On April 22, the Governor of Tennessee signed HB 2100 into law. This new law, an amendment to the state’s consumer protection codes, introduces protections for consumers against discrimination by financial institutions and...more
On April 19, less than a month after Wisconsin’s enacted legislation, Kansas has followed suited by enacting comprehensive earned wages access legislation. Kansas’ law is set to take effect immediately upon publication....more
4/29/2024
/ Commercial Loans ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Kansas ,
Lenders ,
New Legislation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures
On April 17, the Kansas Legislature signed SB 345, to become the most recent state to enact disclosure requirements for small business lenders.
The law’s requirements apply to “providers” which are defined as persons who...more
4/22/2024
/ Commercial Loans ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Kansas ,
Lenders ,
New Legislation ,
Small Business ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures
On March 21, the FDIC, Fed, and OCC jointly issued an interim final rule to extend the applicability date of certain provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) final rule and requested comments on the extension. The...more
4/8/2024
/ Banks ,
Community Development ,
Community Reinvestment Act ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lending ,
OCC ,
Rulemaking Process
On February 16, the CFPB issued revised rules updating its internal supervisory appeals process for institutions seeking to appeal a compliance rating or an adverse material finding. The updated rules open up new avenues for...more
The CFPB recently proposed two rules on its continuing war on so-called junk fees.
The first rule, proposed on January 17, target’s bank overdraft programs. Currently, financial institutions that extend overdraft loans...more