President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy.” This order aims to eliminate the use of disparate impact liability in all contexts, emphasizing the importance of...more
4/25/2025
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Deregulation ,
Disparate Impact ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Labor Reform ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by Troutman Pepper Locke colleagues Lori Sommerfield and Lane Page to dissect two unexpected fair lending developments under the new Trump...more
At an emergency hearing this morning in National Treasury Employees Union v. Vought, Judge Amy Berman Jackson once again halted the layoffs of over 1,000 employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The judge...more
4/21/2025
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Government Agencies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Judicial Authority ,
Layoffs ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Stays ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
Wrongful Termination
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) is undergoing significant changes as the Trump administration implements sweeping layoffs just days after revising the Bureau’s regulatory priorities. According to...more
4/18/2025
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Layoffs ,
Motion to Show Cause ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
Voluntary Reduction in Force
This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a memo to staff outlining its new supervision and enforcement priorities for 2025....more
4/18/2025
/ Banking Sector ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt Collection ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Fair Lending ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgages ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Supervisory Guidance ,
Trump Administration
In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by colleagues Megan Burns, Jason Manning, and Punit Marwaha to explore the arcane world of reverse mortgages. They provide valuable insights about how...more
On April 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an order partially staying the district court’s preliminary injunction in the ongoing legal dispute between the National Treasury Employees...more
4/16/2025
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Government Agencies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Judicial Authority ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Statutory Violations ,
Stays ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) agreed to vacate its controversial credit card late fee rule in a joint motion for entry of consent judgment filed in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of...more
4/16/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
CARD Act ,
Consent ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Cards ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Judicial Authority ,
Late Fees ,
Penalties ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Statutory Violations ,
Vacated
On April 9, the White House issued a memorandum directing federal executive departments and agencies to repeal regulations deemed unlawful pursuant to certain U.S. Supreme Court decisions. This directive aims to address...more
4/16/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Carson v Makin ,
Cedar Point Nursery v Hassid ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Deregulation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Michigan v. EPA ,
Ohio v EPA ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn New York v. Cuomo ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
SEC v Jarkesy ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Trump Administration ,
West Virginia v EPA
On April 9, the House of Representatives passed two Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolutions aimed at nullifying certain Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rules finalized in the final days of the...more
4/14/2025
/ Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Nullification ,
Overdraft Fees ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements
As federal agencies pull back on consumer protection regulations under the Trump administration, California is stepping up to fill the void. This shift was forecasted in January, when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau...more
4/14/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
California ,
California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) ,
Community Reinvestment Act ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
UDAAP
In this episode of the Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis, co-leader of Troutman Pepper Locke's Consumer Financial Services Regulatory practice, delves into the current state of machine learning and artificial...more
On March 28, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) was ordered by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to reinstate its employees and resume its operations. This decision comes after the...more
4/1/2025
/ Appeals ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Employees ,
Employment Policies ,
Government Agencies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Stop Work Orders ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions
In a surprising turn of events, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) and Townstone Financial, Inc. (Townstone) have jointly moved to vacate the Stipulated Final Judgment and Order previously entered in...more
3/28/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
First Amendment ,
Redlining ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Stipulated Judgment ,
Trump Administration ,
Vacated
In a significant policy shift under the Trump administration, the new Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte issued an order on March 25, 2025 terminating special purpose credit programs (SPCPs) supported...more
3/28/2025
/ Banks ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
ECOA ,
Equal Access to Credit ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fannie Mae ,
FHFA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Freddie Mac ,
GSE ,
Housing Market ,
HUD ,
Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Trump Administration
In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by Joe Reilly, a partner in Troutman Pepper Locke’s Consumer Financial Services Practice Group, to discuss the events of the first two months of the new...more
On March 18, President Donald Trump dismissed the two Democratic commissioners from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The removal of Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter has sparked significant...more
In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by Matt Hansen, Jason Manning, and Michael Lacy, partners in Troutman Pepper Locke’s Consumer Financial Services practice group, to discuss the use of...more
3/20/2025
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Law Firm Partners ,
Legal Operations ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Mock Trials ,
Professional Development ,
Strategic Planning ,
Trial Attorneys ,
Trial Preparation
On March 7, the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA) and the Consumer Service Alliance of Texas filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn a decision by the...more
3/17/2025
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Appeals ,
Collins v Yellin ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Judicial Review ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Removal For-Cause ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump Administration
On March 10, Christopher Mufarrige, the newly-appointed Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), published a blog explaining the significance of Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs)...more
In a significant development in the credit card late fee rule litigation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has filed a status report indicating that it is actively working towards a resolution. This update...more
In this special joint edition of the Crypto Exchange and the Consumer Finance Podcast, host Ethan Ostroff is joined by colleagues James Kim and Chris Willis to discuss the anticipated regulatory approaches to digital assets...more
In this special joint edition of the Crypto Exchange and the Consumer Finance Podcast, host Ethan Ostroff is joined by colleagues James Kim and Chris Willis to discuss the anticipated regulatory approaches to digital assets...more
In this final episode of our Year in Review series, Chris Willis is joined by colleagues David Anthony, Stefanie Jackman, and Jonathan Floyd to discuss the year in review and look ahead for debt collection. They provide...more
On February 27, Texas State Senator José Menéndez (D) introduced Senate Bill 1736, a piece of legislation aimed at regulating convenience fees associated with electronic payments for motor vehicles. SB 1736 would allow such...more
3/6/2025
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Convenience Fees ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Electronic Payment Transactions ,
Fees ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Motor Vehicles ,
Payment Systems ,
Processing Fees ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements