On February 14, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its Winter 2020 Supervisory Highlights (Report). It summarizes the CFPB’s findings on violations in the areas of debt collection, mortgage servicing, payday lending, and student loan servicing completed between April 2019 and August 2019. The CFPB notes that it…
On March 3, the Supreme Court heard argument in Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a case involving two questions about the structure of the CFPB: (1) whether the provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that limits removal of the CFPB Director to…
On January 17, student loan servicer Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC) filed a notice of appeal in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging the decision of Chief Bankruptcy Judge Celelia Morris, which granted summary judgment for a student loan debtor and discharged his…
The Eleventh Circuit joined the growing majority of courts in issuing an opinion that significantly narrows the scope of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and delivers a blow to the plaintiffs’ bar and proponents for an expansive reading of the statue. In addressing a pair of consolidated appeals, Glasser…
On January 24, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a policy statement setting forth guidelines on how it intends to enforce the “abusiveness” standard under the Dodd-Frank Act. Section 103(a) of the Dodd-Frank Act authorizes the CFPB to bring enforcement actions against “covered persons” engaged in unfair, deceptive,…
At the start of the new year, both California’s Governor Newson and New York’s Governor Cuomo proposed expansions to their respective state’s regulatory oversight of consumer financial services. Of particular note, Governor Newson’s 2020-21 Budget Summary (California’s Proposal) explained that the reason behind California’s proposed regulatory expansion is the belief…
On December 10, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) jointly hosted a workshop on accuracy in consumer reporting. The workshop was divided into four panels and featured a variety of speakers ranging from consumer advocates to industry representatives. Each panel sought to address the…
On December 11, 2019, PayPal, Inc. (PayPal) filed suit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the District of Columbia, challenging the CFPB’s Prepaid Accounts Under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (Regulation E) and the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z) Rule’s application to digital wallets. PayPal, Inc. v….
On December 2, 2019, the United States government submitted a brief to the Supreme Court urging it to deny review of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling holding a provision of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) unconstitutional under the First Amendment. In the case in question, Gallion v….
Last week, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) each issued a proposed rule designed to clarify that interest rates that are valid when a loan is made remain valid when the loan is transferred or sold. Together, the proposed rulemaking would…
On September 25, 2019, California’s Governor signed into law two bills that impact financial consumer services companies in California: California Assembly Bill 539 and California Senate Bill 187. Both laws go into effect January 1, 2020. California Assembly Bill 539 (AB 539) imposes new regulations and restrictions on loans of…
On October 4, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives moved the Supreme Court for leave to file an amicus curiae brief in opposition to Seila Law’s petition for writ of certiorari to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in CFPB v. Seila Law LLC, No. 7-56324 (9th Cir. 2019), which upheld the…
As we previously reported, on September 17, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reversed course by filing a Supreme Court brief agreeing with a petitioner that the agency’s single director structure is unconstitutional. On the same day, the CFPB’s director, Kathy Kraninger, sent letters to Congress informing it of…
On August 8, 2019, the Seventh Circuit, in Lavallee v. Med-1 Solutions, LLC, 932 F.3d 1049 (7th Cir. 2019), ruled that emails to consumers from debt collectors containing hyperlinks to information regarding debt, including validation notices, are not “communications” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Therefore, the court…
On June 28, 2019, Seila Law LLC filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) single-director structure is constitutional. As Lender Law Watch covered previously, in CFPB v. Seila Law LLC, No….
On May 28, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. v. Jackson, 578 U.S. ___ (2019), holding that third-party counterclaim defendants cannot remove under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), even if the claim satisfies CAFA’s other jurisdictional requirements. CAFA allows for removal by…
On June 6, 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a declaratory ruling providing voice service providers with the authority to automatically enroll consumers for call blocking programs that identify and block unwanted telephone calls. This ruling is effective immediately. The ruling comes at a time when unwanted call volume…
On May 13, 2019, petitioner Kevin Rotkiske submitted his brief to the United States Supreme Court in Rotkiske v. Klemm, No 18-328. As noted in a previous post, the Court accepted Rotkiske’s appeal back in February to resolve a circuit split between the Third Circuit and the Ninth and Fourth…
On May 7, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (Notice) to implement the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The Bureau’s stated purpose for the proposed rules, which would be placed in the existing Regulation F, is to “set clear,…
On May 6, 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in CFPB v. Seila Law LLC, No. 7-56324. Seila Law LLC is a law firm that provides debt-relief services to consumers. The CFPB filed a petition to force Seila Law to…