The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has filed an administrative enforcement action against a title lender for alleged violations of California law and launched an investigation into whether the interest...more
3/26/2019
/ Ability-to-Repay ,
Administrative Authority ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Department of Business Oversight ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Interest Rates ,
State and Local Government ,
Title Loans ,
Unconscionable Contracts
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Facebook has agreed to remove age, gender, and zip code targeting for housing, employment, and credit-related advertisements as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the...more
The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has issued an invitation for comments from stakeholders in developing regulations to implement SB 1235, the bill signed into law on September 30, 2018 that requires...more
Consistent with the weight of authority, the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that certain litigation financing agreements structured as asset sales were not disguised "loans," and therefore not subject to the state's...more
Politico has reported that in remarks made at a fintech policy event last week, Andrew Smith, the FTC’s Director of Consumer Protection, indicated that fintech companies will be a focus of the FTC’s enforcement activities....more
It appears likely that California Governor Jerry Brown will sign a bill passed on August 31 by the state’s Senate, Senate Bill 1235, which would create consumer-style disclosure requirements for certain commercial loans and...more
It appears likely that California Governor Jerry Brown will sign a bill passed on August 31 by the state's Senate, Senate Bill 1235, which would create consumer-style disclosure requirements for certain commercial loans and...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
8/21/2018
/ 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) ,
Usury
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)
A report issued last week by the U.S. Treasury Department recommends sweeping regulatory changes intended to promote innovation in the consumer financial services market, reduce regulatory burdens on consumer financial...more
8/8/2018
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Information ,
Data Security ,
Debt Collection ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Innovation ,
Non-Bank Lenders ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Reassigned Phone Numbers ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Special Purpose National Bank Charter ,
Student Loans ,
TCPA ,
True Lender ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Valid When Made Doctrine
In two closely-watched enforcement actions pending in Colorado state court, the Administrator of the Uniform Consumer Credit Code for the State of Colorado is employing the “true lender” theory and the Second Circuit’s...more
6/29/2018
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDIA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Madden v Midland Funding ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Motion To Intervene ,
Oral Argument ,
Preemption ,
State and Local Government ,
True Lender ,
Usury
Arizona’s Governor recently signed into law legislation that directs the state’s Attorney General to establish a “regulatory sandbox program” for the purpose of “enabl[ing] a person to obtain limited access to the market in...more
The New York Department of Financial Services has sent a letter directed to businesses that the DFS “understands…may be involved in online lending in the State of New York” and that asks recipients to complete a “New York...more
Identical bills have been introduced in the New York Assembly (A08938) and Senate (S07294) that would direct the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) to issue a report on online lending by July 1, 2018....more
A bipartisan group of five House members introduced a bill (H.R. 4439) last month that is intended to address the so-called “true lender” issue, which creates risk with respect to some loans made by banks with substantial...more
In remarks last week at Georgetown University’s Institute of International Economic Law’s Fintech Week event, Acting OCC Comptroller Keith Noreika provided the “latest on our thinking regarding a charter for fintech companies...more
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 new research paper released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that fintech lending has expanded consumers’ ability to access credit. The paper, “Fintech Lending: Financial Inclusion, Risk Pricing, and...more
The CFPB announced yesterday that it has issued a final rule that prohibits covered providers of certain consumer financial products and services from using an agreement with a consumer that provides for arbitration of any...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) yesterday announced that it has issued a final rule that prohibits covered providers of certain consumer financial products and services from using an agreement with a consumer...more
The OCC announced that its Office of Innovation will host office hours for national banks, federal savings associations, and financial technology (fintech) companies from July 24 through July 26, 2017 at the OCC’s district...more
Yesterday, I attended the CFPB’s field hearing in Los Angeles on small business lending. In connection with the hearing, the CFPB issued a white paper entitled “Key dimensions of the small business lending landscape,”...more
5/11/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Comment Period ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Data Collection ,
Dodd-Frank ,
ECOA ,
Fair Lending ,
Financing ,
Minority-Owned Businesses ,
Request For Information ,
Small Business ,
Women-Owned Businesses
The CFPB will hold a field hearing on small business lending in Los Angeles, CA on May 10, 2017. The announcement, which took the form of a posting on the events page of the CFPB’s website, contains only the usual statement...more
Earlier this week, we attended the LendIt USA conference in New York City, a leading annual fintech conference, at which CFPB Director Richard Cordray and Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry both spoke....more
3/9/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinTech ,
Innovative Technology ,
No-Action Letters ,
OCC ,
Project Catalyst ,
Request For Information ,
Richard Cordray ,
Special Purpose National Bank Charter ,
Technology ,
Thomas Curry ,
UDAAP
The CFPB has issued a request for information (RFI) that seeks information about the use of alternative data and modeling techniques in the credit process.
According to the CFPB, the RFI stems from the Bureau’s desire...more