On Tuesday, November 26, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office (AG) announced it filed a consent order to resolve allegations that online lenders were charging interest on loans in excess of the amounts prescribed under Minnesota usury laws. Under the consent order, over $1 million in allegedly illegal loans were discharged….
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…
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…
On October 19, 2022, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (Fifth Circuit) held that the funding mechanism for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unconstitutional and violates the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution. Community Fin. Services Assoc. of Am. Ltd., No. 21-50826 (5th Cir. Oct. 19, 2022). In light…
In January 2021, the new California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) entered into memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with five earned wage access fintech companies so that these companies can continue to operate in California while providing consumers with protection against abusive practices. The DFPI, often referred to as…
This week LenderLaw Watch covers developments related to small-dollar loans in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Every year the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) conducts its Survey of Household Economics & Decision-making, asking households across the country questions related to financial wellbeing and security. According…
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…
The Trump Administration-appointed Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), Mick Mulvaney, recently stated in a memo to his staff that under his leadership, the CFPB would significantly change in its approach to regulation and enforcement. The most concrete example of this thus far is his approach to the payday lending…
On January 16 and 17, 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released two statements signaling that yet more change is on the horizon for the agency. Close on the heels of similar announcements regarding potential changes to its Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and prepaid card rules, the Bureau announced…
On October 5, 2017 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) revealed its final rule regulating payday lending. For the past five years, the CFPB had been doing research and seeking comments from the industry on how to address its concerns with what it calls “lending traps” associated with small-dollar lending….
On May 10, 2017, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the Middle District of North Carolina’s refusal to compel arbitration under the terms of a payday loan agreement. In Dillon v. BMO Harris Bank, N.A., BMO Harris attempted to compel arbitration pursuant to an agreement that would have required the arbitrator to…
On November 23, 2016, Advance America, Inc., a payday lender, and Community Financial Services Association of America, Ltd., a trade organization which represents the interests of payday lenders (Plaintiffs), filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Motion) against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, and the…
On October 31, 2016, the Supreme Court of Georgia issued a lengthy opinion ruling against payday lenders in two cases consolidated on appeal. The two cases (Western Sky Financial, LLC v. State of Georgia, No. S16A1011 and State of Georgia v. Western Sky Financial, LLC, No. S16X1012) involved state regulation…
On August 31, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its Monthly Complaint Report for August 2016, this month focusing on complaints concerning bank accounts and related services. The report, which compiles data from the CFPB’s complaint database to compare consumer complaints by subject, geography, and company on a…
Earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a report analyzing consumer usage and default patterns for certain single-payment vehicle title loans (the “Report”). Vehicle title loans are loans issued to borrowers by non-depository lenders in exchange for a security interest in their vehicles. A unique aspect of vehicle…
On May 10, 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department released a white paper entitled, “Opportunities and Challenges in Online Marketplace Lending.” The white paper is the result of a request for information that elicited more than 100 industry responses, and it reviews the benefits and risks of online marketplace lending before making…
The CFPB’s assault on payday lenders is nothing new (see our coverage of the Bureau’s proposed Payday lending rules here and Enforcement Watch’s coverage of a payday-lending-based consent order here), but the Bureau has now gone international. CFPB v. NDG Financial Capital (Case No. 15-cv-05211), currently pending in the Southern District of…
On June 22, 2015, the US Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania filed an information charging Adrian Rubin of Jenkintown, PA, with: (1) one count of conspiracy to violate RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d); (2) one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. §…
State and federal regulation of payday lenders is far from a new phenomenon. Recently, litigation against entities using the “tribal lending” model, and government attempts to suppress certain online lending programs via Operation Chokepoint have put the spotlight back on industry. In past articles, we have noted that the Consumer Financial…
On Monday, November 17, we briefly discussed the CFPB’s newly proposed prepaid card rules. Today we elaborate on these newly proposed rules, and their effect on issuers if these new rules are implemented by the CFPB. Scope: The CFPB explained what it considers to be a prepaid card for purposes of…