An initiative designed to add significant regulatory obligations to the home improvement and solar financing industries is progressing through the California legislature. Senate Bill 784 (SB 784) passed the California Senate last month and the California Assembly is quickly moving a slightly amended version of the bill through committees in July. If enacted, SB 784 would take effect on January 1, 2026.
In this special joint episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, Chris Willis, co-leader of Troutman Pepper Locke’s Consumer Financial Services Regulatory Practice, is joined by Keith Barnett and Jason Cover from the Payments Pros podcast, along with Troutman Pepper Locke Consumer Financial Services Partner Mark Furletti. They discuss the future of earned-wage access (EWA) products following the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) rescission of previous guidance. The conversation explores the history and evolution of EWA products, initially designed as employer-based solutions to provide employees early access to earned wages without extending credit.
In this special joint episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, Chris Willis, co-leader of Troutman Pepper Locke’s Consumer Financial Services Regulatory Practice, is joined by Keith Barnett and Jason Cover from the Payments Pros podcast, along with Troutman Pepper Locke Consumer Financial Services Partner Mark Furletti. They discuss the future of earned-wage access (EWA) products following the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) rescission of previous guidance. The conversation explores the history and evolution of EWA products, initially designed as employer-based solutions to provide employees early access to earned wages without extending credit.
On July 14, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued Bulletin 2025-16, announcing the removal of references to disparate impact liability from the “Fair Lending” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook and instructing examiners to cease examining banks for disparate impact liability. This change aligns with Executive Order (EO) 14281, issued by President Trump (discussed here), which aims to eliminate the use of disparate impact liability in all contexts at both the federal and state level.
New York has included a “Buy-Now-Pay-Later Act” as part of its broader budget legislation for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Encapsulated in Article 14-B, the Act aims to regulate the burgeoning market of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) lenders but has raised concerns by its overreach and seemingly unequal treatment of national and state banks.
On May 14, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) published a proposed rule to rescind amendments to its Procedures for Supervisory Designation Proceedings, originally adopted in 2022 and 2024. This proposal marks a significant shift in the Bureau’s approach to supervising nonbank entities. Public comments on the rescission will be accepted until June 13, 2025.
Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) announced a significant shift in its enforcement priorities, choosing not to prioritize actions related to Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) loans under the Truth in Lending (Regulation Z). This decision aligns with the CFPB’s broader strategic adjustments outlined last month, and discussed here, which emphasize focusing resources on more pressing consumer threats, particularly those affecting servicemen, veterans, and small businesses.
Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy.” This order aims to eliminate the use of disparate impact liability in all contexts, emphasizing the importance of treating all citizens equally under the law and promoting a merit-based, colorblind society.
Last month, the Texas legislature introduced two companion bills, S.B. No. 2677 and H.B. No. 700, to regulate sales-based commercial financing. For purposes of the proposed legislation, sales-based financing is a transaction that is repaid as a percentage of sales or revenue, or according to a fixed payment mechanism that provides for a reconciliation process to adjust payments to an amount that is a percentage of sales or revenue. These bills propose significant changes to the regulatory landscape for sales-based financing transactions, including the imposition of a usury cap on such transactions and disclosure requirements that only extend to financing of over $500,000. The bills are currently pending before committees.
On February 4, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at immediately capping credit card interest rates at 10% for a period of five years. This initiative follows a recent Forbes report indicating that the average credit card interest rate stands at 28.6%.