Point-of-Sale Finance Series: Understanding the Development and Regulation of Buy Now, Pay Later Products — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Regulatory Rollback: CFPB’s Withdrawal of Informal Guidance Sparks New Litigation Dynamics – The Consumer Finance Podcast
The Road to Regulation: Vehicle Service Contracts Explained — Moving the Metal: The Auto Finance Podcast
Point-of-Sale Finance Series: Unpacking Leases and RTO Models — The Consumer Finance Podcast
The Current State of the Holder Rule: Friend or Foe? — Moving the Metal: The Auto Finance Podcast
Regulatory Rollback: Legal Challenges and Opportunities in Earned-Wage Access — Payments Pros – The Payments Law Podcast
Regulatory Rollback: Legal Challenges and Opportunities in Earned-Wage Access — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Balch’s Consumer Finance Compass: How Standing Can Make or Break Certification for Class Action Lawsuits in Debt Collection
From Banks to FinTech: The Evolution of Small Business Lending — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Point-of-Sale Finance Series: Banking on Lending Models — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Point-of-Sale Finance Series: The Great Debate of Loans vs. Credit Sales — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Explore the Impact of Point-of-Sale Finance in Our Upcoming Series — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Welcoming a New Payment Pro: Jason Cover Joins the Payments Pros Podcast — Payments Pros – The Payments Law Podcast
Shifting Gears: Adapting to Regulatory Changes in Auto Finance — Moving the Metal: The Auto Finance Podcast
Unlocking the Secrets of Reverse Mortgages — The Consumer Finance Podcast
The FinReg Frontier: AI and Machine Learning in Consumer Finance — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: How to Use the Restatement of Consumer Contracts - A Guide for Judges
Mock Jury Exercises: Enhancing Litigation Strategy in Consumer Financial Services Cases — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Navigating 2025: Regulatory Shift to the States and the FTC in the Digital Asset Landscape — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Requiem for the Rules: The Rise and Fall of the Junk Fee and CARS Rules — Moving the Metal: The Auto Finance Podcast
This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a memo to staff outlining its new supervision and enforcement priorities for 2025....more
The CFPB is rescinding its existing enforcement and supervision priority documents, according to a memo sent to bureau staff by CFPB Chief Legal Officer Mark Paoletta....more
With the change in administration, enforcement actions at the federal level are expected to decrease, reflecting President Trump’s focus on deregulation. Indeed, during President Trump’s first term, the number of enforcement...more
Following lengthy litigation, the CFPB is attempting to close the books on its case against Townstone Financial alleging discriminatory lending practices and redlining African American neighborhoods in Chicago....more
On October 29, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state’s Division on Civil Rights (DCR) released a report detailing the findings of a multi-year investigation into Republic First Bank (Republic) and its...more
On October 10, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a landmark redlining settlement with Citadel Federal Credit Union (Citadel), marking the first such agreement with a credit union in the DOJ’s history. This...more
The Justice Department announced that Citadel Federal Credit Union has agreed to pay more than $6.5 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of redlining majority-Black and Hispanic...more
Recent news stories explain the criticism of Senator Warren and Congresswoman Waters directed at banks that are litigating the 2023 CRA rule. But perhaps their frustration should be focused on the regulators who have...more
Previously, I have written about regulatory enforcement of anti-redlining regulations. I pointed out the problems and potentially misleading statistical conclusions caused by the application of what is called a “REMA” or...more
In a recent podcast, Len and Dean discuss the June 10 article "Manufacturing Fair Lending" from National Mortgage Professional, which delves into the "Modern Theory of Redlining" introduced by bank regulators after AG...more
In this month's article, we share some of our top "bites" for the prior and current month covered during the July 2024 webinar....more
As any bank professional regulatory compliance professional knows redlining is the hottest issue today and has been since Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the “Combatting Redlining Initiative” in October 2021. Since...more
On July 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Townstone Financial, Inc. that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) protects prospective applicants and...more
In a recent article in National Mortgage Professional entitled "Manufacturing Fair Lending”, former chief of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section at the Department of Justice under Attorney General William Barr, Paul...more
In emails in recent months we've warned bankers about the extremely aggressive enforcement of anti-redlining policies. This is becoming more and more obvious every day as more banks get threatened with referral to the DOJ....more
Since October 2021, the prudential bank regulators in concert with the Department of Justice have been pursuing the “Anti-Redlining Initiative” announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland on October 21, 2021. During that...more
For the last two years, the federal regulatory agencies have been waging a war on redlining by mortgage lenders — a war that shows no signs of abating. Originally published in Law360 - December 12, 2023....more
As 2024 gets off the ground, federal regulators are continuing their focus on fair lending issues. In February, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) released a statement on examination principles...more
There has been much understandable handwringing about the new CRA and its complexity as well as the high CRA exam failure rate predicted by regulators based on the new assessment areas and the higher performance standards...more
I have written a number of articles about the new CRA and the problems its requirements will impose on banks. But there are also problems posed by what the new Rule omits....more
We are pleased to share our annual review of regulatory and legal developments in the consumer financial services industry. With active federal and state legislatures, consumer financial services providers faced a challenging...more
As I write this article the Department of Justice is pursuing a record-breaking number of “redlining” cases against banks and mortgage lenders. The “Anti-redlining Initiative” was announced October 22, 2021, by Attorney...more
Throughout the past few years, the CFPB has sought input from a range of stakeholders, including community-based organizations and financial institutions, for feedback about how it can improve consumer financial products and...more
Recently the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into a proposed consent order with Ameris Bank to resolve allegations of redlining from 2016 through 2021 in majority Black and Hispanic areas in the Bank’s Jacksonville,...more
The Mortgage Bankers Association and Housing Policy Council (the “Associations”) recently filed an Amici Curiae brief supporting the position of Townstone Financial regarding the scope of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act...more