The Federal Trade Commission issued two notices this week concerning the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR)—an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) and a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR). Both notices address the...more
In response to the complaint filed by Opportunity Financial, LLC (OppFi) seeking to block the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) from applying California usury law to loans made through...more
Utah and Virginia recently became the first two states to require the registration of providers of merchant cash advances. The new laws also include disclosure requirements. (Although laws requiring disclosures for merchant...more
In response to the complaint filed by Opportunity Financial, LLC (OppFi) seeking to block the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) from applying California usury law to loans made through...more
The California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) became effective on January 1, 2021. The CCFPL gives the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) (the new name given to the state’s...more
On November 16, 2020, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) held a “listening session” relating to the implementation of the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL). The DFPI’s...more
Come January 1, 2021, senior citizens in California will be afforded additional cancellation rights when entering into contracts negotiated or executed away from typical business establishments. AB-2471, which Governor Newsom...more
We have recently focused on the DFPI’s expanded authorities under California Consumer Protection Law, the Debt Collection Licensing Act, and the Student Borrower Bill of Rights. In addition to these blockbuster bills, this...more
On September 3, 2020, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced that it has launched a formal investigation into whether Wheels Financial Group, LLC d/b/a LoanMart, formerly one of California’s largest...more
9/11/2020
/ Automotive Loans ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Department of Business Oversight ,
Fair Access to Credit ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Interest Rates ,
Non-Bank Lenders ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Title Loans ,
True Lender
We previously wrote about California Governor Newsom’s 2020-2021 Budget and an accompanying trailer bill that would rename the Department of Business Oversight (“DBO”) and significantly increase its ability to oversee...more
California Governor Newsom submitted his updated 2020-2021 budget proposal to the state legislature on May 14, 2020. The proposed budget amendments include substantial cuts to compensate for the anticipated impact to state...more
On December 30, 2019, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced two actions regarding companies offering unregulated, point-of-sale financing to California residents. In the first action, the DBO...more
1/7/2020
/ Business Licenses ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Contract Terms ,
Department of Business Oversight ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Financing ,
Legal Opinion ,
Loans ,
Merchants ,
Point of Sale Terminals ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Retail Installment Sales Contracts ,
State and Local Government ,
Third-Party ,
User Agreements ,
Usury
On the last day of California’s 2019 legislative session, by a vote of 61 to 8, the California State Assembly overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 539, the Fair Access to Credit Act. Governor Newsom has until October 13th to...more
The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has issued proposed regulations to implement SB 1235, the bill signed into law in September 2018 that requires consumer-like disclosures to be made for certain commercial...more
There was movement recently on two California bills that we have been tracking closely and could substantially alter the lending and brokering landscape under the California Financing Law (CFL).
...more
There was movement last week on two California bills that we have been tracking closely and which could substantially alter the lending and brokering landscape under the California Financing Law (“CFL”)....more
The California Senate’s Banking and Financial Institutions Committee will hold a hearing on AB 539 on June 26, 2019. The hearing was previously scheduled for yesterday....more
Last week, by a vote of 60 to 4 (with 16 not voting), the California Assembly cleared AB 539, which would change several aspects of the California Financing Law (CFL), including by setting new interest rate caps, imposing new...more
In what seems to be a response to the Government Accountability Office’s (“GAO”) determination that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s indirect auto finance bulletin (the “Bulletin”) was a rule subject to the...more
Resolving an ambiguity in the California Finance Lender's Law (CFLL), the California Supreme Court unanimously held that borrowers may use the unconscionability doctrine to challenge the interest rate on consumer loans of...more
8/17/2018
/ Ability-to-Repay ,
CA Supreme Court ,
CashCall ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Finance Lenders Law ,
Financial Services Industry ,
High-Interest Loans ,
Interest Rates ,
State and Local Government ,
Unconscionable Contracts ,
Unfair Competition Law (UCL)
Although the California Finance Lenders Law (the CFLL) does not limit the interest rates that may be charged on loans of $2,500 or more, Section 22302 of the law expressly states that loans made under the CFLL may be held...more
A recent federal court ruling provides a potent reminder that companies can be held liable for consumer protection law violations committed by third-party vendors—and underscores the importance of maintaining strong vendor...more
The CFPB recently revised the prototype student loan Payback Playbook disclosures it has been developing with the Departments of Education and Treasury. These revisions were based on feedback from nearly 3,500 individual...more
Prior to the amendment, these calls would have been prohibited absent the recipient’s prior express consent if placed to a cellular telephone and if they were made by an automatic telephone dialing system or included an...more