The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in a Texas federal district court challenging the validity of the CFPB’s final rule implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act have filed a motion seeking a preliminary injunction.  (The final rule was published in today’s Federal Register.)  Originally filed last month naming the Texas Bankers Association and Rio Bank, McAllen, Texas as plaintiffs, the complaint was amended this month to add the American Bankers Association as a plaintiff.   ... Continue Reading

In its decision last week in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling that severely limits the federal government’s jurisdiction over wetlands and tributaries.  Specifically, the Court rejected the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulatory definition of what constitutes “Waters of the United States” subject to federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA). ... Continue Reading

Earlier this month, the CFPB published a report on specialty financial products, such as medical credit cards and installment loans, which are sold to patients as a way to address the growing costs of medical care. The report focuses on some of these financial products, which patients once used primarily for elective care but now use to cover everything from emergency room visits to medications to regular checkups, as well as dental and vision visits and treatment.... Continue Reading

As the financial services industry continues to monitor the proceedings in Community Financial Services Association of America v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an industry group composed of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), and National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) has filed a brief as amici curiae cautioning the Supreme Court against a ruling that could call into question all of the CFPB’s regulations.... Continue Reading

A fintech peer-to-peer lender has entered into separate consent orders with California, Washington D.C., and Connecticut relating to its practice of requesting tips and donations in connection with the loans offered through its platform. The fintech’s platform offers opportunities for members to act as borrowers or lenders and facilitates loans between its members.... Continue Reading

Report Offers Weak Insight on Causation but Lists Steps that Treasury Can and Should Take

The Department of Treasury (“DOT”) recently released its first ever strategy report (the “Strategy”) on the topic of de-risking, taking the form of a 54-page document that combines a summary of the problem of de-risking with an overview of recommended steps to solve it.... Continue Reading

On May 17, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking intended to increase transparency regarding the costs and financial outcomes of postsecondary programs. The centerpiece of the proposed regulations is a Gainful Employment (“GE”) Rule, which would terminate access to federal financial aid for career training programs that fail to meet federal benchmarks.... Continue Reading

On April 24, the Governor of Kansas signed into law Kansas Senate Bill 44, which enacts the Financial Institutions Information Security Act (the “Act”). The Act requires credit services organizations, mortgage companies, supervised lenders, money transmitters, trust companies, and technology-enabled fiduciary financial institutions to comply with the requirements of the GLBA’s Safeguards Rule, as in effect on July 1, 2023.... Continue Reading

Following recent Senate testimony in which OpenAI CEO Sam Altman proposed additional Congressional oversight for the development of artificial intelligence (AI), Colorado Senator Michael Bennet has re-introduced the Digital Platform Commission Act, a bill that would enable the creation of a federal agency to oversee the use of AI by digital platforms. ... Continue Reading

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a Small Entity Compliance Guide (“Guide”) covering the amendments to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B, which implement requirements of Section 1071 of Dodd-Frank. These amendments require that financial institutions compile and report certain data regarding certain business credit applications, as explained in our blog.... Continue Reading

Our discussion looks at the role of in-house and outside counsel in the development and launch of new consumer financial products.  We first discuss the range of issues to be considered as part of the preliminary scoping process, including state licensing, marketing, underwriting, servicing, and collection issues.  We turn next to the process of addressing potential legal obstacles and problems that are identified in scoping, including what consideration should be given to competitors’ approaches and when consultation with regulators should be considered. ... Continue Reading

NYDFS recently issued Proposed Guidance “to New York State-regulated banking organizations and regulated non-depository financial institutions to notify them of the Department’s expectation that they update their framework for the review and assessment of the character and fitness of their directors, senior officers, and managers, both upon onboarding and on an ongoing basis.”... Continue Reading

A Colorado bill (HB23-1229) that would opt out of Section 521 of the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDA) (codified at 12 U.S.C. 1813d), a federal law enacted to create competitive equality between state-chartered banks and national banks, was approved by both the Colorado Senate and House of Representatives, and will be sent to the Governor shortly.... Continue Reading

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) received more than 225 public comments to its credit card late fee proposal (the “Proposed Rule”). As we have discussed, the Proposed Rule would make significant changes to the current rules for credit card late fees, including substantially reducing the safe harbor late fee amounts that card issuers can charge and eliminating annual inflation adjustments.... Continue Reading

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) recently issued advisory guidance on the enforcement of time-barred mortgage loans.  A time-barred mortgage loan is one where the statute of limitations has expired.  The statute of limitations for mortgage loans are typically created by state law, and vary by jurisdiction.  In some cases, they create an affirmative defense for the consumer that prohibits a debt collector from suing to collect the debt. ... Continue Reading

The CFPB has issued a circular that addresses the reopening of closed deposit accounts (Circular 2023-02).  Specifically, the circular warns that it can constitute an unfair act or practice for a financial institution to unilaterally reopen closed accounts to process debits or deposits.

By way of background, the CFPB describes a scenario in which, after a consumer has completed all of the steps required by the financial institution to close a deposit account and the financial institution has closed the account, the financial institution unilaterally reopens the account after receiving a debit or deposit to the account. ... Continue Reading

Recently, 37 Senators (36 Democrats, one Independent) and 84 members of the House of Representatives (all Democrats), led by Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Congressman Hank Johnson of Georgia, reintroduced the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (the “Fair Act”) which would amend the Federal Arbitration Act to prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses and class action waivers in consumer, employment, civil rights and antitrust cases. ... Continue Reading

The consumer financial services industry has become the target of increasing regulatory scrutiny under antitrust laws as well as class action antitrust litigation that challenges industry practices on the grounds that they undermine competition.  We first provide an overview of the federal antitrust laws, discuss the Biden Administration’s focus on competition, and the wide remedies available under antitrust laws. ... Continue Reading

The CFPB has filed its brief with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking reversal of the Fifth Circuit panel decision in Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd. v. CFPB.  In that decision, the panel held the CFPB’s funding mechanism violates the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution and, as a remedy for the constitutional violation, vacated the CFPB’s payday lending rule (Payday Rule).... Continue Reading

Auriemma Roundtables, a leading provider of business intelligence solutions to the consumer finance industry, together with First National Bank of Omaha and a group of several other premier consumer financial services firms, has filed a comment (the “Auriemma Roundtables Comment”) on the credit card penalty fees proposal (the “Proposed Rule”) issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). ... Continue Reading