The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) recently issued a press release summarizing significant changes it has made to its consumer complaint portal. The Bureau’s explanation is blunt: the system has been abused, and that abuse impedes its ability to respond to legitimate complaints. For financial institutions—and particularly for the nationwide…
On June 17, 2026, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rescinded its December 2020 advisory opinion regarding Special Purpose Credit Programs (SPCPs) under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B. The Bureau stated that the advisory opinion no longer reflects current law and guidance following amendments to Regulation…
Continuing the current federal shift away from reputation risk in the bank supervisory space, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System jointly announced on June 2, 2026 that they had removed all…
In May 2026, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released its Semiannual Risk Perspective report, warning that artificial intelligence (AI) is “significantly transforming” the cybersecurity threat landscape for banks. Specifically, the OCC found that AI can be used to facilitate fraud, while also lowering the barrier to…
In April 2026, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued two coordinated interim actions addressing national banks’ authority to impose certain fees. The OCC adopted an interim final rule and final order clarifying that national banks have long possessed the power under federal law to assess non‑interest charges…
On April 17, 2026, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) submitted a final rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) that would complete its overhaul of small-business lender data collection requirements originally issued during the Biden administration. The submission signals that the CFPB’s long-anticipated “reconsideration” of its…
On April 7, 2026, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) jointly issued a final rule (Final Rule) codifying the elimination of reputation risk from their supervisory programs – a shift in the agencies’ supervisory philosophy that places limits on how examiners…
On March 26, 2026, mortgage provider Better Home & Finance and cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase announced a partnership with Fannie Mae to offer Fannie Mae-complaint mortgages backed by cryptocurrency from borrowers as collateral. The partnership represents the first mortgage products backed by cryptocurrency to be accepted by Fannie Mae since…
State Attorneys General Sue Lender for Alleged “Bait-and-Switch” Scheme On March 16, 2026, a coalition of State Attorneys General (AGs) filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against a New York-based lender and its affiliated entities for an alleged “bait-and-switch” scheme through which the AGs assert the lender charged customers “hundreds…
A federal district court in the Northern District of California has granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs in Rise Economy et al. v. Vought et al., permanently enjoining the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from relying on a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion that sought to…
In January 2026, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) revised its digital-signage requirements, relaxing the guidelines that dictate where and how FDIC-insured labeling must appear online. According to the agency, the final rule is “intended to address implementation issues and sources of potential confusion” that emerged following the adoption of…
On December 23, 2025, the CFPB issued an advisory opinion affirming that “covered” earned wage access (EWA) services fall outside the definition of “credit” under TILA’s Regulation Z, and that optional expedited delivery fees and voluntary tips are not “finance charges” under TILA’s Regulation Z, withdrawing a Biden Administration July 2024 proposed…
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an advisory opinion on December 23, 2025, that resolves significant regulatory uncertainty surrounding whether earned wage access (EWA) products and are “credit” for purposes of Regulation Z, the Truth in Lending Act’s (TILA) implementing regulation. The advisory opinion establishes four critical characteristics that…
On January 12, 2026, the CFPB and DOJ published a Federal Register Notice withdrawing Biden-era guidance concerning the consideration of immigration status when making credit decisions under ECOA. ECOA does not expressly prohibit consideration of immigration status. Under Regulation B, creditors may consider an applicant’s immigration status or status as…
Almost three years after New York’s “Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act” (FAPA) changed how the six-year time clock applicable to mortgage actions starts and stops, the state’s highest court resolved a heavily litigated dispute, concluding that FAPA is, indeed, retroactive. On November 25, 2025, in two parallel cases, Article 13 LLC…
On November 17, 2025, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that it had entered into consent order with a California-based lender to resolve allegations that the lender charged excessive interest and fees to its customers. According to the DFPI, after a regulatory examination, the DFPI found that the lender made multiple…
New York State recently enacted a law requiring companies doing business in New York to disclose when they use an algorithm based on an individual consumer’s personal data to set pricing for a good or service advertised or sold to that consumer. That practice, also known as “surveillance pricing,” enables…
In October 2025, the Bank Policy Institute (BPI) issued a series of letters opposing efforts by several digital asset and payment firms to secure federal banking charters from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). BPI raised concerns that these companies are seeking trust charters even though, in…
On October 27, 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that it is seeking public comment on its proposal to eliminate certain recovery planning guidelines applicable to insured national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches of foreign banks with at least $100 billion in assets….
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an interpretive rule on October 20, 2025 stating that the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) preempts state measures barring medical debt in consumer credit reports. This reverses a Biden-era interpretation, issued in 2022 but withdrawn by the Trump administration in May 2025, which…