On February 22, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent letters to 197 state-charted banks and credit unions warning them that certain fees they charge may constitute “unfair” business practices under California’s Unfair...more
On February 7, a Florida-based cryptocurrency company agreed to settle charges brought by the SEC and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation alleging that, an interest-earning feature offered on the...more
California has recently proposed legislation that, if enacted, would impose a new licensing requirement for any person providing “commercial brokerage” services to a borrower in connection with a commercial loan of $5,000 or...more
On December 4, Judge R. Gary Klausner of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted summary judgment to California’s DFPI upholding the recently adopted commercial financing disclosure regulations...more
12/29/2023
/ California ,
Commercial Loans ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Disclosure ,
Financial Institutions ,
Lenders ,
Lending ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Small Business ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
On October 30, the Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles denied the DFPI’s motion for a preliminary injunction to force a Chicago-based fintech company to stop facilitating loans to California borrowers from its...more
11/10/2023
/ Banks ,
Borrowers ,
California ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Interest Rates ,
Loans ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
True Lender
A number of state and federal regulators, bolstered by messaging from the Biden administration, have embarked on a concerted campaign to address so-called “junk fees.”
• CFPB – On Oct. 11, the CFPB issued an...more
Recently, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) approved the final rule implementing and interpreting certain sections of the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) that...more
On February 27, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) issued new guidance with respect to the performance of remote work by mortgage loan originators (MLOs) working for licensees under the...more
On November 22, the CFPB denied a crypto lending institution’s petition for an order modifying a pending civil investigative demand (“CID”) that the Bureau issued to the institution in December of 2021. The CFPB issued the...more
On August 30, the Commissioner of the California DFPI issued a notice of rulemaking proposing new regulations and amendments to current regulations implementing the state’s student loan servicing laws...more
On July 15, the California DFPI released draft text for a proposed second rulemaking under the Debt Collection Licensing Act (DCLA) relating to the scope, annual report, and bond amount increase provisions of the DCLA....more
Two weeks after the DFPI set a Dec. 9 effective date for its long-threatened commercial financing disclosure requirement (we discussed these regulations in a previous bog, here), the DFPI issued proposed commercial UDAAP and...more
On June 24, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) issued proposed regulations implementing certain provisions of the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CFPL) related to commercial...more
On June 9, the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation’s (DFPI) proposed commercial financing disclosure regulations issued pursuant to SB 1235...more
On May 20, the California DFPI released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on implementing new rules to the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL). Previously, the CCFPL expanded the DFPI’s...more
On June 1, the California DFPI began formally seeking input from the public to assist in developing guidance and regulatory clarity for Blockchain and Crypto companies as directed by Governor Newsom’s Executive Order (which...more
6/8/2022
/ Blockchain ,
California ,
Comment Period ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Governor Newsom ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
State and Local Government
In an apparent follow up to President Biden’s March Executive Order on Digital Assets (which we previously discussed here), this week, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a similar executive order aiming to foster...more
5/6/2022
/ Blockchain ,
California ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Newsom ,
Joe Biden ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State Legislatures ,
Technology ,
Transparency
On April 28, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 577 which will, among other things, bring back the California Financing Laws (CFL) licensing exemption which permits a lender to make a single commercial loan within a 12-month...more
On April 8, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) filed a cross-complaint against a Chicago-based FinTech company alleging that as the “true lender” of consumer installment loans, it is...more
4/29/2022
/ California ,
California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Cross-Complaints ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Interest Rate Caps ,
Loans ,
True Lender ,
UDAAP
On March 7, a Chicago-based FinTech company filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief in Los Angeles County Superior Court against the Commissioner of the California Department of Financial Protection and...more
3/14/2022
/ Borrowers ,
California ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Fair Access to Credit ,
FinTech ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Interest Rate Caps ,
Loans ,
Local Ordinance ,
Non-Bank Lenders ,
State and Local Government ,
True Lender
On February 11, the California DFPI issued an opinion letter in response to an EWA provider’s request for a specific ruling from the DFPI about whether the company’s EWA solution is subject to licensure under the California...more
In two unrelated settlements, the California DFPI and Georgia attorney general each recently settled with rent-to-own companies. In the California settlement that was announced on January 10, the DFPI settled with a Los...more
On December 14, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that it entered into a consent order with an LA-based auto title lender to resolve allegations that the company violated...more
On December 16, the DFPI announced that it is extending the deadline for CFL licensees to transition onto NMLS until March 15, 2022. CFL licensees not on NMLS may now transition onto NMLS. To begin the process of...more
California Governor Newsom announced the appointment of Clothilde “Cloey” Hewlett as the next Commissioner of the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI). She will start after Thanksgiving, when she will...more