On June 12, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied a motion to vacate a November 2024 stipulated final judgement and order requiring a Chicago-based mortgage broker to pay a $105,000 civil money...more
The CFPB has continued to announce additional procedural, rulemaking and administrative changes, with the latest being three postings to the Federal Register on June 18, 2025: 1) a final rule rescinding the Procedure Relating...more
On June 18, 2025 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an interim final rule that amends Regulation B to extend the compliance deadline dates set forth in the small business lending data collection rule...more
To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal and state events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week....more
On June 18, the CFPB issued an interim final rule in the Federal Register extending the compliance dates for its 2023 Small Business Lending Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act rule (Regulation B). The Bureau indicated...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) published in the Federal Register an interim final rule extending compliance dates for its 2023 small business lending rule under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act...more
On June 12, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied the joint motion by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) and Townstone Financial, Inc. to vacate the Stipulated Final...more
As previously reported, in March 2025 the CFPB and Townstone Financial (Townstone) filed a joint motion with a U.S. District Court seeking to reverse the November 2024 consent order between the parties that resolved CFPB...more
On April 30, the CFPB announced it will deprioritize enforcement and supervision of its small business lending data collection rule for institutions not covered by the stay issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth...more
In connection with its regulation titled "Small Business Lending Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B)," implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 88 Fed. Reg....more
Saying that the bureau under the Biden Administration abused its power, the CFPB is seeking to reverse its settlement with Townstone Financial....more
For the last several years, federal agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), have been strongly encouraging financial institutions to implement and offer targeted credit assistance to...more
Amid recent technological advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, on January 17, 2025, the CFPB issued its Winter 2025 Supervisory Highlights: Advanced Technologies Special Edition. This edition of...more
On January 17, the CFPB released its complaint and proposed consent order against a nondepository mortgage company, alleging violations of the ECOA and Regulation B as well as the CFPA. The CFPB seeks to enjoin the company...more
Saying that reverse redlining is a form of discrimination, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has refused to dismiss a discrimination case alleging that Texas developer Colony Ridge specifically...more
The National Consumer Law Center is asking the CFPB, by way of a petition, for rulemaking that is long on policy arguments but woefully short on legal support, as we note below, to define residential leases as “credit” under...more
On August 7, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky granted the CFPB’s motion to stay the small business lending rule litigation before the court until resolution of the similar case pending in the...more
With Loper Bright’s recent death blow to Chevron deference, some commentators have been predicting substantial constriction of the administrative state and the narrowing or limiting of the powers of federal regulators. For...more
In a major win for the CFPB, in CFPB v. Townstone Financial, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (7th Circuit) recently held that the Regulation B provision prohibiting discrimination under the Equal...more
On July 11, the Seventh Circuit held that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1691 et seq. (ECOA) authorizes the imposition of liability for the discouragement of prospective applicants. See CFPB v. Townstone...more
On July 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed a district court’s decision to dismiss the CFPB’s claims that a Chicago-based nonbank mortgage company and its owner violated ECOA by engaging in...more
As discussed here, on February 3, 2023, an Illinois federal court dismissed a case brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) in 2020 against Townstone Financial, Inc., a Chicago mortgage lender, for...more
Despite facing challenges both from Congress and in court, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) “Small Business Lending Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B)” (Small Business Rule) is likely...more
On February 12, the FTC provided the CFPB with an annual summary of its 2023 enforcement, research and policy development, and educational-related initiatives on ECOA, as Dodd-Frank allows the Commission to enforce ECOA and...more
On January 2, the FTC issued a complaint and stipulated order against a personal finance mobile application that offers its users short-term cash advances through “floats.” According to the complaint, the defendant...more