Goodwin’s Consumer Finance Insights (CFI) monitors, reports, and analyzes the latest legal news, activity, and developments impacting the consumer finance industry. Consumer financial services companies—whether banks, fintechs, nonbank and alternative lenders, payment providers, or industry vendors or service providers, like digital advertisers and lead generators—face a constantly shifting and maturing regulatory and legal landscape. Growing from the Financial Crisis, today more than any time in history the consumer finance industry must confront a robust and growing body of industry legislation and regulation, all while under the microscope of sophisticated enforcers, like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and state regulators and attorneys general. It is critical for in-house and outside corporate counsel, compliance departments, and business executives to stay informed and aware of these developments to navigate institutional, reputational, and legal risks. Goodwin’s CFI is a singular source of the most recent industry news and latest enforcement activity for you to leverage. Here, you will find links to original enforcement documents, enforcement activity statistics, and reports, analysis, and commentary from Goodwin’s leading Consumer Financial Services Litigation and Enforcement practitioners.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Wins Summary Judgment in Challenge to CFPB’s Update to Its Examination Manual

On September 8, 2023, the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Texas granted plaintiff U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s (the “Chamber”) motion for summary judgment invalidating the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s (“CFPB”) Exam Manual changes from March 2022 that stated that discriminatory conduct may be a UDAAP violation….

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CFPB Analyzes Mobile Device Tap-To-Pay Market as Possible Precursor to New Regulation

On September 7, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published its analysis of how smartphone companies are affecting consumers’ use of so-called “tap-to-pay” technology – the wireless transfer of data over very short distances, used in financial transactions conducted at the point of sale.  Concluding that “tech companies are…

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CFPB Enters into Consent Orders with Mortgage Loan Originator and Real Estate Brokerage Firm for Illegal Kickbacks

On August 17, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had taken action against a residential mortgage loan originator that provided illegal incentives to real estate brokers and agents in exchange for mortgage loan referrals.  The CFPB also penalized a real estate brokerage firm that accepted kickbacks…

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CFPB Files Complaint Against Auto Loan Servicer

On August 2, 2023, the CFPB announced that it had filed a complaint against a Georgia-based auto-loan servicer alleging “unfair acts and practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a), 5536(a)(1).” The complaint, filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia,…

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CFPB and Justice and Consumer Protection of the European Commission Announce Plans for an "Informal Dialogue"

On July 17, 2023, Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice and Consumer Protection of the European Commission and Rohit Chopra, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced the start of an “informal dialogue” between their two agencies. Reynders and Chopra indicated that the dialogue would cover a variety of important…

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CFPB Issues New Supervisory Highlights Report

On July 26, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a Supervisory Highlights report covering findings from its examinations completed between July 2022 and March 2023 (the Report), which found, among other violations, several instances of unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices related to auto lending, and illegal…

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Bureau Sues Lease-to-Own Company for its Financing Options to Asset Limited Consumers

On July 19, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) sued Snap Finance LLC, Snap R TO LLC, Snap Second Look LLC, Snap U.S. Holdings LLC, and Snap Finance Holdings LLC (collectively, the Snap Defendants or Snap).  The complaint alleged that the Snap Defendants violated the: Consumer Financial Protection Act…

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CFPB and States Launch Enforcement Action Related to Student Loans

On July 13, 2023, the CFPB and various state attorneys general, along with California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, filed an adversary proceeding against a sales training company for deceptive marketing and debt collection practices relating to the company’s allegedly illegal student loan program. The eight-count complaint, filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court…

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CFPB Files Opening Brief in its Appeal of District Court Ruling that ECOA Applies Only to Applicants

On June 14, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed its opening brief in its appeal of a U.S. district court’s decision in the CFPB’s enforcement action against Townstone Mortgage (Townstone).  The CFPB’s brief argues that the Seventh Circuit should reverse the district court’s holding that the Equal Credit…

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CFPB, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and U.S. Department of Treasury Initiate Public Inquiry into Financial Products Targeted at Healthcare Costs

On July 7, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DOH), and U.S. Department of Treasury (DOT) initiated a public inquiry into certain financial products, such as medical credit cards and installment loans that the CFPB characterized as “high-cos specialty products.”  The CFPB,…

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New York Courts Split on the Constitutionality of the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act

In the six months since New York’s governor signed the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act, L. 2022, ch. 821 (eff. Dec. 30, 2022) (FAPA), a split has emerged about whether the law applies retroactively. FAPA strictly cabins the time limits for commencing mortgage foreclosures by amending five New York procedural rules…

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Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Quality Control Standards for Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) Published

On June 21, 2023, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) (collectively, the “Agencies”) published a proposed…

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Eleventh Circuit Reprimands CFPB for Discovery Abuses During Rule 30(b)(6) Depositions

On June 12, 2023, an Eleventh Circuit panel issued an opinion affirming a sanctions order against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) premised on the CFPB’s “derail[ment]” of multiple depositions in contravention of the district court’s instructions.  See Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Brown, Case 21-14468 (11th Cir. June 12,…

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CFPB Highlights Risks Arising from Chatbot Usage in Banking Industry

On June 6, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a Spotlight on financial institutions’ growing use of “chatbots” as a means to provide cost-effective customer service. The use of chatbots in customer service has been gaining popularity among financial institutions in recent years.  The ten largest commercial banks…

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FTC Approves Consent Order with Payment Card Network Operator for EFTA Violations

On May 30, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had finalized a consent order with one of the nation’s largest credit and debit card providers in an administrative action regarding alleged violations of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA), as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 1693o-2, and its implementing regulation,…

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CFPB Reaches $20 Million Consent Order with Lender Over Optional Add-On Products

On May 31, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with an Indiana-based non-bank installment lender. ​​The consent order alleges that the lender engaged in unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices concerning the “marketing, sales, and financing of optional ancillary products” that it offered. ​Specifically, the…

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DOJ Reaches Settlement Over Bank's Alleged Redlining

On May 31, 2023, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), announced that it had entered into a settlement with a Philadelphia based bank and trust company over allegations that the bank had engaged in unlawful redlining in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.  In the Complaint, filed contemporaneously with the consent order in U.S. District Court for the…

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