On September 24, a federal judge in Minnesota declined to dismiss a proposed class action alleging that Sempris LLC (“Sempris”) sold “memberships” in supposed money-saving programs that instead resulted in illegal, unauthorized monthly credit card charges.
The plaintiff, a Georgia resident, alleges Sempris, which operates “membership loyalty programs” that offer discounts and coupons, was responsible
According to a recent study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the financial data gathered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on 25 million to 75 million U.S. credit cardholders is not safe enough. As part of its government mandate, the GAO examined laws, regulations, and contracts pertaining to the CFPB’s data collection methodologies, risk
On September 9, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Reserve Board announced increases in the dollar thresholds in Regulation Z (Truth in Lending (TILA)) and Regulation M (Consumer Leasing Act (CLA)) for exempt consumer credit and lease transactions. According to the Federal regulators, these increases are consistent with the Dodd-Frank Act and reflect
On September 3, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a new bulletin warning credit card issuers against certain interest-rate promotions that, it claimed, posed a risk of deceptive or abusive conduct. The transactions at issue involve solicitations that “offer a promotional annual percentage rate on a particular transaction over a defined period of time” and
On August 28, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced several new senior leaders within the organization, including:
On August 27, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted new rules for credit rating agencies to enhance governance, protect against conflicts of interest, and increase transparency to improve the quality of credit ratings and increase credit rating agency accountability. Industry observers hope that the new rules will address problems that have contributed to the failure
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published proposed changes to Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The HMDA was enacted by Congress in 1975, and on July 21, 2011, the rule-writing authority of Regulation C was transferred to the CFPB. HMDA requires covered depository and nondepository institutions to collect and publicly
On August 7, FICO – the creator of one of the most widely used and influential credit scores – announced that it had recalibrated its credit scoring model to include a more nuanced way to assess consumer collection information, bypass paid collection agency accounts, and offer options to differentiate medical from non-medical collection agency accounts.
On August 8, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau admitted to the falsity of its August 6 allegations that two Midwestern credit unions marketed products and services to university students without adequately disclosing the deals’ terms. As it turned out, the credit unions had no agreements with the universities and were mistakenly targeted by the CFPB’s
Foot Locker Retail Inc. and Macy’s Corporate Services, Inc. were hit with separate class action lawsuits in California federal court alleging that the companies illegally collected consumers’ personal information at in-store checkouts. The plaintiffs claim that both businesses required customers to provide personal information such as telephone numbers, identification cards, and ZIP codes before processing