On March 2, Florida State Representative Doug Bankston introduced HB1353, the Florida Commercial Financing Disclosure Law, that would mandate covered commercial financing companies provide consumer-like disclosures for certain commercial financing transactions. The law would also define and prohibit specific acts by brokers of those transactions, including the collection of advance fees. New York, California, Utah
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it is launching an inquiry into the small business credit reporting industry. Specifically, it is ordering five firms to provide detailed information about their products and processes.
According to the FTC, the impetus for this inquiry is that unlike consumer reports, which are governed by the Fair Credit
On March 16, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a compliance bulletin entitled Unfair Billing and Collection Practices After Bankruptcy Discharges of Certain Student Loan Debts. The compliance bulletin focused on the treatment of certain private student loans following a bankruptcy discharge. It’s also another example of the CFPB’s efforts to expand bankruptcy
Last year, Missouri State Senator Justin Brown (R) introduced a bill that would have imposed certain mandatory disclosure requirements for commercial financing transactions. Ultimately, the bill failed to advance. On December 1, 2022, Senator Brown reintroduced a similar bill, known as SB 187, which also requires registration of a commercial financing broker. The bill
As reported here, on September 9, 2022, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (CA DFPI) published a notice of rulemaking action, proposing amendments to the Student Loan Servicing Act.
The proposed rules clarify that all education financing products, including income share agreements (ISAs) and installment contracts, are student loans, and servicers of
On February 16, Illinois State Representative Hoan Huynh (D) introduced HB3064, the Small Business Truth in Lending Act, that would impose certain mandatory disclosure requirements for commercial financing transactions and require registration of small business finance companies and brokers. Illinois follows the lead of states such as New York, California, Utah, and Virginia which
On February 9, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released an announcement about updates that postsecondary institutions must make to their cybersecurity and data protection policies in order to comply with the Federal Trade Commission’s amended Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information (Safeguards Rule), a component of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). The effective date for most
On February 1, the Superintendent of Financial Services Adrienne A. Harris announced that the New York State Department of Financial Services completed the process for adopting a new regulation relating to disclosure requirements for commercial financing. The regulation, 23 NYCRR 600, applies to multiple types of commercial financing products and requires providers to issue
Please join Troutman Pepper Partner Chris Willis and his colleagues Associates Caleb Rosenberg and Josh McBeain as they discuss commercial financing regulatory developments, specifically what is happening in both legislatures and regulatory agencies to extend consumer-like protections to business borrowers.
Caleb Rosenberg focuses his practice on helping banks, fintech companies, finance companies, and licensed lenders
Do “negative option” subscription services constitute unfair or deceptive practices under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA)? According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in its recent circular, these subscription services may violate the CFPA when a seller: 1) misrepresents or fails to clearly disclose the material terms of the program; (2) fails