On November 10, a group of Democratic senators sent a letter to Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra, requesting that the CFPB take a proactive stance in its regulation of consumer reporting agencies (CRAs). The group, led by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and which includes Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH),
On November 29, House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and committee member Bill Foster (D-IL) sent a letter to the leaders of multiple federal regulators, asking them to monitor technological development in the financial services industry to ensure that algorithmic bias does not occur. The letter was sent to the following individuals:
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a “Serving Communities of Color” report that details fraud and consumer issues that have a disproportionately negative impact on communities of color. This report is the latest installment released by the FTC on the topic and follows prior initiatives, such as the 2014 “Every Community Initiative“
On November 2, the House Financial Services Committee’s Task Force on Financial Technology held a hearing titled, “Buy Now, Pay More Later? Investigating Risks and Benefits of BNPL and Other Emerging Fintech Cash Flow Products.” For the hearing, the task force invited both consumer advocates and industry tradespeople to address several products, including buy now,
On October 18, consumer advocate groups and 19 state attorneys general wrote comment letters, urging banking regulators to denounce “rent-a-bank” arrangements between financial institutions and fintechs or other third-party providers.
The consumer advocates and attorneys general both push regulators to address and denounce financial institutions partnering with nonbanks to engage in high-cost lending otherwise prohibited
In late September, the Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into two consent orders to resolve allegations related to violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The past year has seen an uptick in regulatory scrutiny centered on military consumer protection laws. The DOJ’s recent consent orders highlight this trend.
The SCRA provides various legal
On September 21, the U.S. Senate voted 49-48 along party lines on a procedural motion to advance the nomination of current Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Rohit Chopra to become the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Commissioner Chopra’s nomination had been in limbo since March, when the Senate Banking Committee failed to
On August 27, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (collectively, the “Agencies”) issued “Conducting Due Diligence on Financial Technology Companies: A Guide for Community Banks.” While the guide is primarily intended to help community banks assess risks
On August 16, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a proposed settlement to resolve a lawsuit against a debt collection firm, Fair Collections & Outsourcing (FCO), and its owner, Michael Sobota, stemming from FCO’s alleged failure to implement proper policies and procedures, in addition to related Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Fair Debt
On August 31, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued an industry letter to all supervised mortgage lending institutions and their affiliates on preventing sexual orientation discrimination in mortgage lending. New York’s Fair Lending Law prohibits discrimination in, among other things, the granting, withholding, extending, or renewing, or in the fixing of the