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Christine Emello

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Christine focuses her practice on consumer financial services matters, with an emphasis on disputes, litigation, investigations, and examinations. She has worked on both federal and state court cases in jurisdictions across the U.S. Christine drafts pleadings, including complaints, motions, and responses, and prepares witnesses for cases involving state and federal laws such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). She has worked on cases for a variety of financial institutions, banks, and lenders, including a large multinational bank, a major national health care consulting firm, and a leading worldwide online payments platform.

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As discussed here, on March 30, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its final rule under Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Final Rule). Section 1071 amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to impose significant data collection and reporting requirements on small business creditors. On May 12, the CFPB issued a Small Entity Compliance Guide that includes a detailed summary of the Final Rule’s requirements and examples to illustrate some key portions of the Final Rule. For example, illustrations include what constitutes covered originations, what date should be reported for an application, and how a covered entity is to report a response to whether the applicant is a women-owned, minority-owned, and/or LGBTQI+ business if the applicant refuses to respond.

On April 26, the Texas Bankers Association and Rio Bank, McAllen, Texas filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB or Bureau) final rule under § 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Final Rule). As discussed here, § 1071 amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to impose significant data collection and reporting requirements on small business creditors. The plaintiffs rely heavily on the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Community Financial Services Association (CFSA) v CFPB, finding the CFPB’s funding structure unconstitutional and, therefore, rules promulgated by the Bureau invalid. The plaintiffs also argue portions of the Final Rule violate various requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

On April 17, the Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), Adrienne A. Harris, announced that the NYDFS adopted a final regulation establishing how companies with NYDFS-issued BitLicenses will be assessed for costs of their supervision examination.

During the public comment period for the proposed regulation, the NYDFS received four comments, but…

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…

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…

Combatting appraisal bias continues to be a top priority for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), as recently emphasized by Deputy Director Zixta Q. Martinez during her remarks at the National Fair Housing Alliance event previewing the documentary Our America: Lowballed. Martinez stated that the CFPB has been actively working with the White House Property…