LenderLaw Watch and Goodwin’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation Team are excited to announce the arrival of Alli Schoenthal to our team! Alli will reside in our New York office. Alli represents banks, trusts, lenders, government-sponsored enterprises, private equity firms, and loan servicers in consumer finance litigation and enforcement matters. Her…
On January 5, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law (Taskforce) issued a final report (Report) with recommendations on how to improve consumer protection in the financial marketplace. In proposing changes to the existing legal and regulatory framework, the Report is centered around five…
As LenderLaw Watch previously reported, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued its final rule on the True Lender doctrine in October 2020, addressing ambiguity in federal law and establishing that a national bank is the “true lender” of a loan when, as of the date of…
On December 8, 2020, the United States Supreme Court held oral argument in the case of Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, No. 19-511, concerning the circuit split over what type of equipment qualifies as an “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS) within the statutory definition of that term set forth in Telephone…
On November 20, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a proposed rule with the objective of ensuring banks offer fair access to financial services. Certain banks have received significant political pressure from various for-profit and not-for-profit organizations to deny financial services to customers in certain…
On November 5, 2020, the Federal Register published five federal financial regulatory agencies’ invitation for comment on a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) that would codify the agencies’ Interagency Statement Clarifying the Role of Supervisory Guidance, as amended, which was issued on September 11, 2018 (2018 Statement). The 2018 Statement…
On November 10, 2020, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a virtual hearing entitled “Oversight of Financial Regulators.” The presenting witnesses were: Randal Quarles, Vice Chair for Supervision of the Federal Reserve System; Brian Brooks, Acting Comptroller of the Currency; Jelena McWilliams, Chairman of the…
On October 30, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a new final rule implementing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). According the CFPB’s press release, the new final rule is designed “to restate and clarify prohibitions on harassment and abuse, false or misleading representations, and unfair practices…
As Lender Law Watch previously reported, in July 2020, to resolve the legal uncertainty discouraging many banks and companies from entering into partnerships to offer loans to consumers, the OCC issued its proposed true lender rule to address the question of which entity makes a loan when the “loan is…
On October 1, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its rule assessment for a final Rule relating to mortgage disclosures. Known as the TRID Rule, the Bureau’s final Rule implemented requirements under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) to integrate various mortgage loan disclosures under the Truth in…
On September 28, 2020, Judge Martin C. Feldman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana issued an important decision that could impact Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation involving alleged robocalls across the United States. See Creasy v. Charter Commc’ns, Inc., No. 20-cv-1199, 2020 WL…
On August 31, 2020, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), an arm of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within the Executive Branch, issued a memorandum (M-20-31 memorandum) directing the heads of federal executive departments and agencies to revise their procedures and practices in light of “the…
On September 29, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with more than 50 federal and state law enforcement partners, announced a nationwide law enforcement and outreach initiative designed to protect consumers from phantom debt collection, and abusive and threatening debt collection practices….
On September 17, 2020, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals (Eleventh Circuit) issued an important decision regarding incentive payments in class-action settlements in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) cases. In Johnson v. NPAS Solutions, LLC, Case No. 9:17-cv-80393 (11th Cir. 2020) (Johnson), a TCPA case, the Eleventh Circuit held that…
On September 14, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a settlement in its eighth case arising out of the CFPB’s “sweep of investigations” of mortgage companies allegedly mailing deceptive advertisements for VA-guaranteed mortgages to servicemembers and veterans. According to the CFPB, the “ongoing sweep of investigations reflects the…
On August 31, 2020, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill No. 1864 (AB-1864), sending the bill to California Governor Gavin Newsom for his expected approval. Below is an overview of some of AB-1864’s key provisions. As LenderLaw Watch reported earlier this year, Governor Newsom’s 2020-2021 Budget Summary proposed expanding the…
On August 24, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release announcing five Notices of Proposed Rulemaking and requesting public comment on their proposed changes to the rules that implement the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The proposed changes correspond to the changes made to the FCRA by…
On August 20, 2020, seven states – California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina – and the District of Columbia (together, the States) filed suit against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit, captioned…
On August 18, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a proposed rule to create a new category of loans known as “seasoned” qualified mortgages (Seasoned QMs). This new category of qualified mortgages would require loans to meet certain performance requirements over a 36-month seasoning period, after which the…
On July 29, 2020, three states – California, Illinois, and New York – filed suit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenging the OCC’s Rule on the “valid when made” doctrine. The suit was filed…