Consistent with President Trump’s de-regulatory agenda, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) is withdrawing over five dozen of its guidance documents, including interpretive rules, advisory opinions, and...more
The CFPB is the primary regulator of consumer financial products and services in the US, but other state and federal regulators also have authority to enforce some federal consumer financial protection laws. The CFPB is now...more
The CFPB recently updated its examination manual to, in Director Chopra’s words, “combat discriminatory practices across the board in consumer finance.” Under the CFPB’s revised manual, any discriminatory conduct that the...more
7/22/2022
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Banking Examinations ,
Compliance ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
ECOA ,
Examination Manual ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Marketing ,
UDAAP ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Take-aways From Director Chopra’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress -
On April 6, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its semi-annual report to Congress required under Dodd-Frank....more
7/22/2022
/ Big Tech ,
Comment Period ,
Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Credit Cards ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
FinTech ,
Housing Market ,
Information Reports ,
Open Banking ,
Racial Bias ,
Sandbox ,
Transaction Fees
Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has authority to require reports and conduct examinations with respect to large...more
5/9/2022
/ Comment Period ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Dodd-Frank ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Nonbank Firms ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Authority
In December 2019, PayPal, Inc. filed suit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the CFPB’s authority to issue two provisions of the so-called prepaid rule, which governs consumer financial products...more
5/9/2022
/ Chevron Deference ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Digital Wallets ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
ECOA ,
EFTA ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lack of Authority ,
PayPal ,
Prepaid Payment Products ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
On October 21, 2021, the CFPB sent orders to Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal, and Square requiring them to provide information about their current and planned payments products, practices, and data collection and...more
1/26/2022
/ Advertising ,
Apple ,
Behavioral Advertising ,
Big Tech ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Data Collection ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Facebook ,
FinTech ,
Google ,
Payment Systems ,
PayPal ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda
The “buy now pay later” (BNPL) market continued its trend of increasing valuations and consumer uptake through the end of 2021. BNPL’s popularity is largely due to its simple repayment terms and low cost relative to...more
In line with the CFPB’s and FTC’s recent scrutiny of big tech companies, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICO Act) on October 18, 2021. The bill is co-sponsored by Sen....more
The explosive growth of “buy now pay later” (BNPL) products is a staple of the fintech news cycle. The model, which gained popularity with point-of-sale financing options offered by straight play providers such as Affirm,...more
10/25/2021
/ Amazon ,
Apple ,
Big Tech ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
MasterCard ,
Point of Sale Terminals ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA) ,
Visa Inc
On September 1, 2021, the CFPB issued a proposed rule that would add a new subpart to Regulation B, which implements the federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). The rule would implement Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act...more
10/22/2021
/ Annual Reports ,
Biden Administration ,
Commercial Loans ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Covered Entities ,
Data Collection ,
Dodd-Frank ,
ECOA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Loan Applications ,
Minority-Owned Businesses ,
Proposed Rules ,
Small Business ,
Women-Owned Businesses
In September, Biden nominated Saule Omarova to head up the OCC as Comptroller of the Currency after a months’ long candidate search. Earlier this year, potential nominees for the Comptroller included Michael Barr, who...more
In September 2021, the CFPB took action against Better Future Forward, Inc. (BFF), a provider of student income share arrangements, and LendUp, an online, subprime consumer lender. In both cases, the CFPB alleged that the...more
10/22/2021
/ Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Income Share Agreements ,
Student Loans ,
Subprime Loans ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Industrial bank charters continue to gain momentum with approval of Square’s charter; payments and tech companies have become interested in industrial banks lately since the FDIC started approving them after a moratorium from...more
On July 24, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced plans to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) regarding consumer-authorized third party access to financial records. The...more
Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sent letters to the CEOs of several issuers of store brand credit cards warning of fairness and transparency concerns with deferred-interest promotions. The CFPB has...more
In a recent line of enforcement actions, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has signaled that it will hold payment processors liable if the CFPB believes the processors know or should have known that transactions...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a bulletin on September 3, 2014 warning credit card companies that marketing materials for promotional annual percentage rate (APR) offers may be in violation of the...more
Earlier this week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it is working on potential new consumer disclosure requirements for prepaid cards to standardize fee disclosures. The new disclosure...more