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.

On June 9, California’s Office of Administrative Law approved commercial financing disclosure regulations (Regulations) which require consumer-like disclosures for certain commercial financing products such as small business loans and merchant cash advances. With this final step completed, the Regulations from the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) will become effective on December 9, 2022,

On June 3, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a request for information that could form the basis for a major update of its digital advertising guidance. The FTC’s most recent digital advertising guidance is its 2013 “.com Disclosures – How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising” (.com Disclosures Guide). The .com

On May 25, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) published a blog post, examining what it describes as the “practice of suppressing payment data.”

Per the blog post, the CFPB alleges that its research conducted in 2020 “uncovered that only about half of the largest credit card companies contribute data to credit

On May 26, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) announced that federal anti-discrimination law requires companies to explain to applicants the specific reasons for denying an application for credit or taking other adverse actions, even if the creditor is relying on credit models using complex algorithms.

In a corresponding Consumer Financial Protection Circular

On May 20, California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI or Department) announced that it had filed a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with the Office of Administrative Law, inviting public comments on the proposed rulemaking. The purpose of the proposed regulations is to implement, interpret, clarify, and make specific, certain sections of the California

On May 19, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued an interpretive rule, describing states’ authorities to pursue companies and individuals that allegedly violate any of the federal consumer financial laws enforced by the CFPB.

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra described this action as “promoting state enforcement, not suffocating it.” It openly invites

Join Troutman Pepper Consumer Financial Services Partner Chris Willis and fellow Partners Cindy Hanson and Tim St. George as they discuss current trends in Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation.

Both Cindy and Tim are recognized nationally on issues related to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Cindy has handled more than a thousand matters under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, including hundreds of class actions. Tim has extensive experience handling Fair Credit Reporting Act matters, including those related to employment background screening, as well as class-action litigation.

On May 16, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) announced that it will launch a new initiative to provide guidance to other agencies with consumer financial protection responsibilities on how the CFPB intends to enforce “Federal consumer financial law.” 12 U.S.C § 5481(14).

The CFPB will use Consumer Financial Protection Circulars, described