On January 29, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Comprehensive Credit Act (“the Act”). Packaging several Democrat-sponsored bills together, the Act garnered the support of all but two of the present House Democrats. If enacted into law, the Act would significantly change the information that credit reports can contain, expand the processes available
On December 19, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his intent to advance a legislative proposal to license debt collectors operating within the state. Announced as the 8th proposal of the 2020 State of the State agenda, it “would give the state new tools to regulate debt collectors – stopping unscrupulous practices and strengthening our
On November 25, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced settlements with a military travel lender, its principal, and the servicer of its loans. The now defunct Edmiston Marketing, LLC, operating under the name of Easy Military Travel, provided financing to military servicemembers and their families for the purchasing of airline tickets. The CFPB determined that
The California Department of Business Oversight (“DBO”) on October 25 published a regulatory proposal to “modernize” the California Financing Law (“CFL”) licensing process. To do so, the DBO proposed amending existing licensing rules to transition all licensees onto the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (“NMLS”). According to the notice of rulemaking, today many CFL licensees
On September 25, California Assembly Bill 539 was presented to the Governor for signing. The Bill would prohibit licensees of the California Financing Law (CFL) from charging an interest rate greater than 36% plus the applicable Federal Funds Rate on consumer loans of at least $2,500, but less than $10,000. Currently the CFL does not
Rhode Island has amended its electronic money transfer law to require state licensing for certain entities providing cryptocurrency or “virtual currency”-related services. Specifically, entities that maintain “control of virtual currency or transactions in virtual currency on behalf of others” will need to become “currency transmission” licensees. An entity controls virtual currency if it has “the
On July 25, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPR”) asking for the mortgage industry’s opinion on the scheduled expiration of a provision in its Ability to Repay/Qualified Mortgage Rule (“Rule”), commonly known as the “QM patch.” The QM patch allows certain mortgage loans that are eligible for purchase
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (“CSBS”) announced on June 24 that 23 states have joined a multistate agreement to standardize their licensing process for money services businesses (“MSBs”), such as money transmitters. The agreement centralizes the review of common licensing requirements, such as a MSBs’ “business plan; direct and indirect owners, including background checks;
On May 29, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a settlement with BSI Financial Services, a Texas-based mortgage servicer. Acting as a reminder to mortgage servicers of the importance of maintaining rigorous information management systems, the CFPB alleged BSI violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, and the
On April 29, New Jersey’s governor signed into law bill A4997, known as the Mortgage Servicers Licensing Act. As the title indicates, the Act creates a licensing regime for servicers of residential mortgage loans secured by real property within New Jersey. As with many state licensing regimes, the Act exempts most banks and