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.

COVID-19 and Consumer Financial Services: Navigating New U.S. and State Orders, Rules, Laws, Guidance, and Pleas

Over the past several weeks, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has sparked a litany of new orders, rules, laws, guidance, and plain asks from federal and state leaders, agencies, and courts. The President and federal and state leaders have all begun to focus on how COVID-19 is likely to impact Americans’…

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California DBO Announces Settlement with Point-of-Sale Lender Over Allegedly Illegal Loans

On March 15, 2020, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced a settlement with a point-of-sale lender that offered an allegedly illegal “buy now, pay later” option targeted to young consumers. After an investigation, DBO concluded that these loans were illegal because the lender did not have the requisite…

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Court Orders Defendants in Student Debt Relief Scheme to Pay Over $10.7 Million in FTC Case

FTC

​On March 10, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced ​that it obtained a permanent injunction and monetary judgment from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (the Court) against three defendants that allegedly deceptively marketed student loan debt relief services. The Court’s order was entered on February 27, 2020, and…

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CFPB Files Suit Against National Bank Concerning Alleged Unauthorized Accounts

On March 9, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a lawsuit against a national bank in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging that the bank opened unauthorized accounts and enrolled customers in unauthorized products and services without consumers’ knowledge or consent.  According to the CFPB’s complaint, the…

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Massachusetts AG Enters Consent Judgment with Used Car Company Resolving Predatory Lending Lawsuit

On March 9, 2020, the Massachusetts attorney general’s office (Massachusetts AG) announced ​that it had entered into a consent judgment with a national used car company resolving allegations that the company’s local Massachusetts franchise engaged in predatory lending and deceptive sales of defective vehicles. According to the Massachusetts AG’s complaint​, filed in September 2017, the company…

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Student Loan Servicer Appeals Bankruptcy Court's Decision to Discharge Student Loan Debt

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…

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CFPB Issues Much Anticipated Guidance Regarding Abusive Acts or Practices

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,…

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California and New York Propose to Expand Consumer Protections

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…

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Massachusetts AG Settles with Online Company for $1.25 Million for Allegedly Charging Illegal Interest Rates

On January 21, 2020, the Massachusetts attorney general’s office (Massachusetts AG) announced that it has secured $1.25 million from one of the country’s largest online lending companies to resolve allegations that the company charged excessive interest rates to Massachusetts borrowers in violation of M.G.L. ch. 93A and Massachusetts’ Small Loan Statute, M.G.L. c. 140 s. 96, which prohibits any personal…

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FTC Settles with Several Individual and Corporate Defendants Involved in Credit Repair Scheme

FTC

On January 17, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settled with several operators of a credit repair scheme for alleged violations of sections 13(b) and 19 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 53(b) and 57b, Section 410(b) of the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA), 15 U.S.C. § 1679h(b), Section 6(b) of the…

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California DBO Settles with Point-of-Sale Lender Making Illegal Loans

​On January 16, 2020, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced it had reached a settlement with a point-of-sale lender​ to stop making illegal loans and refund $282,000 in fees it collected from almost 17,000 California consumers. In September 2019, the lender applied to the California DBO for a lender’s license.  Upon review of the lender’s product and information, the California…

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New York Department of Financial Services Announces Settlement with Unlicensed Mortgage Lender

​On January 10, 2020, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced that, in concert with the New York Attorney General (New York AG), it had entered into a consent order and settlement with an unlicensed mortgage-lending business to resolve allegations that the business illegally made predatory, subprime loans in…

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CFPB Files Suit Against Companies for Allegedly Funneling Credit Reports to Student-Loan Debt-Relief Scheme

​On January 9, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had filed a complaint against a constellation of companies for allegedly requesting credit reports without a permissible purpose in order to deceptively market sham student-loan debt relief services to consumers, in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act…

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