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Colin Wilson

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Colin advises clients in the consumer finance sector on all aspects of compliance, applying insights from his role as an attorney-advisor at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In addition to serving in the Bureau’s Legal Division, he worked in the Office of the Director collaborating with senior advisors on a variety of regulatory and policy initiatives.

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On August 26, New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie introduced Senate Bill S10688, legislation that would enact an express “opt out” from key provisions of the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDMCA), purporting to impose New York’s interest rate limitations on a broad range of consumer credit transactions. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Rules the same day. This proposed legislation marks the latest development in a continuing trend of state efforts to regulate state-chartered banks and fintech partnerships and impose restrictions on bank-model lending.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis sits down with Jason Cover and Colin Wilson to discuss the evolving world of auto-renewal and subscription compliance, including the FTC’s click-to-cancel rule, its Eighth Circuit setback, and the states racing to fill the gap. They also spotlight a first-of-its-kind municipal rule proposed by New York City and explain why, even in a deregulatory environment, UDAP authority and ROSCA mean the compliance pressure hasn’t gone anywhere. If your business involves subscriptions, recurring billing, or point-of-sale financing, this is a conversation you can’t afford to miss.

Marking the latest development in the trend toward increased regulation of automatically renewing subscription offers, on April 8, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) proposed what would be the nation’s first municipal “Click to Cancel” rule. This proposed regulation would mirror existing state law requirements providing for consumer rights and protections concerning automatic renewal or continuous service offers. In doing so, the DCWP takes aim at so-called “subscription traps” that it claims unfairly prevent consumers from discontinuing services they no longer wish to pay for. Specifically, the rule would make failure to offer consumers streamlined cancellation methods for continuous service offers a deceptive and unconscionable practice in violation of the New York City Administrative Code. This proposal marks the latest development in New York City’s efforts to prioritize consumer protection initiatives across economic sectors. Important elements of the proposed rule are summarized below.

On May 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued its long‑awaited decision on remand in Cantero, again holding that New York’s 2% interest‑on‑escrow statute (General Obligations Law § 5‑601) is preempted as applied to national banks. This follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous 2024 opinion (discussed here), which vacated the Second Circuit’s earlier decision and instructed the court to apply the Barnett Bank “prevents or significantly interferes” standard through a “nuanced comparative analysis” of prior preemption precedents.