On May 23, the CFPB and the New York Attorney General’s office filed a proposed stipulated judgment in federal district court against a debt collection operation, including several companies and individuals, to resolve...more
On May 24, the FTC finalized an order against an electronic payment processor and its owners for allegedly opening credit card processing accounts for fake companies on behalf of a scam company previously sued by the FTC....more
On May 10, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen presented the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) Annual Report before the Senate Banking Committee about the need for sensible stablecoin legislation (we have previously...more
On May 16, the CFPB released a report examining metrics on mortgage servicers’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the report, homeowners are still facing significant risks and challenges in working with...more
On May 17, the FDIC and the CFPB took parallel actions to combat the misuse of the name or logo of the FDIC and deceptive representations about deposit insurance. The FDIC approved a final rule implementing its statutory...more
5/23/2022
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Deposit Insurance ,
False Advertising ,
FDIC ,
Final Rules ,
Misrepresentation ,
Name and Likeness ,
Stablecoins ,
UDAAP
On May 9, the CFPB released an advisory opinion affirming that ECOA and its implementing rule, Regulation B, protect not only those persons actively seeking credit, but also those who have sought and received credit. The...more
5/17/2022
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
ECOA ,
Fair Lending ,
Loan Servicer ,
New Rules ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulation B
In March, U.S. Department of Treasury issued its annual General Explanations of the Administration’s Revenue Proposals, commonly known as the “Green Book.” Among other revenue proposals, the Treasury addressed the treatment...more
5/17/2022
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Green Book ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
On-Demand Services ,
Rulemaking Process ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Wage and Hour
On April 29, the CFPB filed a proposed order in federal court seeking final judgment against three California-based defendants for engaging in unlawful fee-charging practices and deceptive telemarketing. According to the...more
5/16/2022
/ Advertising ,
Compliance ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt Relief ,
Debt Settlement Services ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Marketing ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Student Loans ,
Third-Party Service Provider
On May 2, the CFPB released its Spring 2022 Supervisory Highlights. The findings of the report, which generally cover examinations completed between July and December 2021, are issued to help institutions and the general...more
On May 2, the CFPB published a blog post demonstrating its commitment to “a fair, transparent, and competitive auto lending market” by calling attention to add-on products for which auto dealers and finance companies “often...more
In an apparent follow up to President Biden’s March Executive Order on Digital Assets (which we previously discussed here), this week, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a similar executive order aiming to foster...more
5/6/2022
/ Blockchain ,
California ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Newsom ,
Joe Biden ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State Legislatures ,
Technology ,
Transparency
On April 28, the FTC proposed updating the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to extend protections against telemarketing tricks and traps to small businesses and to strengthen defenses against other telemarketing schemes that...more
On April 28, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 577 which will, among other things, bring back the California Financing Laws (CFL) licensing exemption which permits a lender to make a single commercial loan within a 12-month...more
On April 26, the DOJ filed a federal complaint on behalf of the FTC against a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, a related company, and its owner for allegedly facilitating the transmission of illegal telemarketing...more
On April 8, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) filed a cross-complaint against a Chicago-based FinTech company alleging that as the “true lender” of consumer installment loans, it is...more
4/29/2022
/ California ,
California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Cross-Complaints ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Interest Rate Caps ,
Loans ,
True Lender ,
UDAAP
The FTC recently finalized an order against a leading provider of business credit report services, alleged to have deceived business regarding the value of products offered and failing to correct errors on customers’ credit...more
On April 21, the CFPB and New York Attorney General’s Office filed a complaint against a remittance provider alleging that the provider (i) repeatedly gave senders inaccurate information about when their remittance transfers...more
4/29/2022
/ Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Electronic Fund Transfer Act ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
New York ,
Regulation E ,
Remittance Transfer Rule ,
Repeat Violations ,
State Attorneys General
On April 25, the CFPB announced that it is using its “dormant authority” in order to conduct examinations of nonbanks posing risks to consumers. The Bureau has direct supervisory authority over banks and credit unions,...more
This week, CFPB Director, Rohit Chopra, appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services in conjunction with the CFPB’s submission of its...more
4/29/2022
/ Annual Reports ,
Big Data ,
Big Tech ,
CFPB Director ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Enforcement ,
Investigations ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Transparency ,
UDAAP
On April 15, the CFPB and FTC announced the release of a joint annual report to Congress administering the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The annual report highlights both agencies’ efforts to protect and...more
4/22/2022
/ Annual Reports ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Debt Collection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDCPA ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Relief Measures ,
Small Business
Recently, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra spoke at a joint meeting of the CFPB’s Community Bank Advisory Council and Credit Union Advisory Council in which he expressed concerns that core service providers that many small banks...more
On March 23, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) responded to a request for an interpretative legal opinion as to whether the virtual currency services offered by a company require it to...more
State and federal crypto and NFT-related enforcement actions continue to occupy the regulatory landscape with an apparent uptick coinciding with the issuance of The White House’s Executive Order in March (we discussed the...more
4/19/2022
/ CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Investors ,
Metaverse ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tax Fraud ,
Wire Fraud
Decentralized finance, DeFi, has quickly grown in popularity and is beginning to gain the attention of regulators attempting to stay ahead of one of the latest investor crazes. Blockchain-based financial technology such as...more
On April 12, the CFPB filed a complaint against a credit reporting agency (CRA), two of its subsidiaries, and a former senior executive for violating a 2017 consent order issued to the company related to alleged deceptive...more