On March 17, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it had submitted a Final Rule entitled Restoring HUD’s Discriminatory Effects Standard. The Rule reinstates HUD’s 2013 discriminatory effects rule and repeals its 2020 rule governing Fair Housing Act (FHA) disparate impact claims. Some of the…
On March 10, 2023, the United States suffered the first major bank failure since the 2008 economic collapse. It was the nation’s 16th largest bank, with over $200 billion in assets. Specifically, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) closed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Various warning signs earlier…
On March 2, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a report (Report) exploring the financial profiles of consumers of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products. The Report is based on the CFPB’s 2022 Making Ends Meet survey, which included data from 2,036 consumers and data from credit bureaus. …
On February 23, 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) seeking public comment on proposed rules targeting unlawful text messages. If the proposed rules are adopted, they will comprise the FCC’s “first action to protect consumers from unwanted and illegal texts.” If adopted,…
On February 27, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a mortgage lender, resolving allegations that the lender engaged in “a series of repeat offenses,” including violating a 2015 order prohibiting the lender from engaging in allegedly deceptive advertising. According to the CFPB, the lender sent advertisements to…
On February 23, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it entered into a consent order with an auto lender based in Georgia. The order resolves allegations that the lender engaged in unfair practices and predatory lending as to military families on auto title loans in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), 12…
Global law firm Goodwin today announced the release of its seventh annual Consumer Finance Year in Review. Produced by the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation and Enforcement + Government Investigations practices, and authored by partners Anthony Alexis, Sabrina Rose-Smith, Kyle Tayman, Levi Swank, Matt Riffee, and Christina Hennecken, the in-depth…
On February 1, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a proposed rule with request for public comment to amend Regulation Z, the implementing regulation of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), to “better ensure that the late fees charged on credit card accounts are ‘reasonable and proportional’ to…
On February 14, 2023, the Minnesota Attorney General (AG) announced a settlement with a California-based student-loan debt relief company to resolve allegations that the company operated a fraudulent student loan debt forgiveness scheme. The AG alleged that the company violated Minnesota’s Debt Settlement Services Act, Minn. Stat. §§ 332B.03-.12, the Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act, Minn. Stat. §…
On February 3, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) issued a decision regarding the disclosure requirements of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Prepaid Rule. In PayPal, Inc. v. CFPB, No. 21-5057 (D.C. Cir. 2023) (PayPal), a unanimous panel of the DC…
On February 3, 2023, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted Defendants Townstone Financial, Inc., a mortgage broker/lender, and Barry Sturner’s, Townstone’s owner, motion to dismiss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB or Bureau) redlining complaint brought under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), ECOA’s…
On February 2, 2023, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (Massachusetts AG) announced that it had entered into a settlement with an auto dealer to resolve allegations that the company engaged in illegal auto loan collection practices in violation of the state’s consumer protection laws. Specifically, the Massachusetts AG alleges that…
On December 23, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) moved for dismissal, or in the alternative partial summary judgment, of the complaint filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in September 2022 in the Eastern District of Texas that challenges the CFPB’s update to the Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive…
On January 11, 2023 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a rule (“Proposed Rule”) that would require “most nonbanks subject to the Bureau’s supervisory authority” to “register annually in [a] system” that is created and operated by the CFPB when their form contracts “use certain terms or conditions that…
On December 1, 2022 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had reached a proposed settlement with a Delaware-based financial services company to resolve allegations it made false representations to consumers in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). In the underlying complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern…
On January 4, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and New York State Office of the Attorney General (NY AG) announced a joint enforcement action against one of the country’s largest publicly-traded indirect auto lenders. The 8-count complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York,…
On December 22, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had reached a settlement with an international remittance company to resolve alleged violations of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), 15 U.S.C. § 1693 et seq., and its implementing Regulation E (Reg E), 12 C.F.R. Part 1005, Subpart B…
On December 22, 2022, the Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) announced a settlement with a South Carolina mortgage servicing company to resolve allegations that the company violated state mortgage servicing and debt collection laws. After an investigation, the AG alleged that the servicer did not take “reasonable steps” to help borrowers avoid foreclosures…
On December 12, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) proposed a rule (“Proposed Rule”) that would require non-bank financial institutions to register with the CFPB when they become subject to certain final public orders by a Federal, State, or local government agency in connection with the offering or provision…
On November 15, 2022, less than one month after the Fifth Circuit panel’s decision in Community Fin. Services Assoc. of Am. Ltd., No. 21-50826 (5th Cir. Oct. 19, 2022) and more than two months before its 90-day deadline, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a certiorari petition with the…