Photo of Chris Willis

Chris is the co-leader of the Consumer Financial Services Regulatory practice at the firm. He advises financial services institutions facing state and federal government investigations and examinations, counseling them on compliance issues including UDAP/UDAAP, credit reporting, debt collection, and fair lending, and defending them in individual and class action lawsuits brought by consumers and enforcement actions brought by government agencies.

This morning the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB or Bureau) petition for certiorari in Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd. (CFSA) v. CFPB, a case that could decide once and for all whether the funding mechanism for the Bureau is constitutional. The order list does not specify which

On February 23, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) announced that it has issued orders to nine of the largest auto lenders requesting information about their auto lending portfolios. According to the CFPB, the nine targeted lenders represent a cross-section of the auto finance market and the data collected in response to these

On February 9, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) submitted its annual letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) summarizing its activities enforcing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and its implementing regulation, Regulation B. This letter is included in the CFPB’s annual report to Congress on the ECOA. A copy of the summary was

On February 16, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in the district court for the Southern District of California on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against seven corporate entities and five individuals acting as officers and/or owners of the corporate entities. The complaint alleges that the defendants, who represent a web

As previously reported here, on May 25, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) published a blog post, examining what it described as the “practice of suppressing payment data” by credit card issuers in connection with their credit reporting. In its blog post, the CFPB alleged its research conducted in 2020

As we previously reported on the blog, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently published a proposed rule that would dramatically cut the safe harbor for credit card late fees. See the full blog post on the CFPB’s proposed credit card rule here. In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden got

Please join Consumer Financial Services Partner Dave Gettings in this inaugural crossover episode with Partner Chris Willis of The Consumer Finance Podcast in welcoming their guests and fellow Partners Cindy Hanson and David Anthony. Dave, Chris, Cindy, and David unite to discuss the 2022 year in review of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and a

On February 14, Patrice Ficklin, the Fair Lending Director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), together with senior officials from the Federal Reserve Board, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and U.S. Department of

On February 14, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) published a blog discussing improvements made to its services with the goal of providing the same experience to consumers with limited English proficiency (LEP) that its English-speaking consumers receive. These improvements include redesigned website landing pages in seven languages and the ability to accept