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Taylor Gess

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Taylor focuses her practice on providing regulatory advice on matters related to federal and state consumer protection, consumer finance, and payments laws, including those that apply to payment cards, lines of credit, installment loans, electronic payments, online banking, buy-now-pay-later transactions, retail installment contracts, rental-purchase transactions, and small business loans.

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On March 11, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a new Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to revisit its Rule Concerning the Use of Prenotification Negative Option Plans. The move follows the Eighth Circuit’s 2025 decision vacating the FTC’s 2024 amendments (discussed here), which would have imposed uniform requirements on subscriptions, auto‑renewals, and trial‑to‑pay offers across all marketing channels. The ANPRM makes clear that while the FTC acknowledges that so-called negative options are widely offered and can provide benefits to both sellers and consumers, the FTC intends to address recurring billing and cancellation frictions that continue to generate a high volume of consumer complaints.

In continuation of increased state efforts to regulate state-chartered banks and fintech partnerships,Oregon’s newly enrolled House Bill (HB) 4116 would enact an express “opt‑out” from a key provision of the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDMCA) for consumer finance loans made in Oregon. HB 4116 also updates licensing requirements and clarifies when Oregon law applies to remote and online loans. This Oregon development comes on the heels of the Tenth Circuit’s decision in Weiser upholding Colorado’s DIDMCA opt-out and holding that a loan is “made in such State” if either the borrower or lender is located in the opt-out state as discussed here. A petition for rehearing en banc has been filed in Weiser, and it remains unsettled where a loan is “made” for purposes of DIDMCA.

On February 23, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued a proposed new Part 423 to Title 3 of the NYCRR to implement New York Banking Law Article 14‑B for Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) lenders. The proposal would move BNPL firmly into New York’s credit system, imposing licensing, supervision, disclosure, data privacy, and underwriting requirements on both interest‑free and interest‑bearing BNPL products offered to New York consumers. If adopted, the rule would take effect 180 days after the notice of adoption is published in the State Register, with a short transitional period for existing BNPL providers. DFS is accepting pre-proposal comments through March 5, 2026, after which the proposed rule will be published in the New York state register for a formal 60-day comment period.

In this special joint episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, Taylor Gess and Kim Phan discuss key privacy and data security risks in point-of-sale finance. They dive into regulators’ growing view that every player in the payments chain shares responsibility for protecting data, highlighting best practices for vendor management, PCI DSS oversight, and incident response planning. The episode also touches on the shifting patchwork of state privacy and breach notification laws, GLBA exemptions, and the risks of data monetization, including when packaging and selling transaction data can trigger Fair Credit Reporting Act obligations.

In this crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, Taylor Gess, Jason Cover, and Caleb Rosenberg explore the heightened attention from regulators and legislators on small business finance programs and trade credit. They discuss the growth of fintech-driven and embedded business-to-business financing, the shift from simple trade credit to more complex installment and term products, and how these offerings increasingly trigger disclosure, registration, rate cap, and fair lending requirements — sometimes even pulling in federal rules like Reg E and Reg B when consumer accounts are involved. This episode also emphasizes the expanding structure of state commercial financing laws in California, Texas, and other states, with a focus on new disclosure regimes, and novel consumer-type protections.

In this special joint episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, guest host Taylor Gess talks to Troutman Pepper Locke colleagues Stefanie Jackman, Caleb Rosenberg, and Jeremy Sairsingh about student lending and income share agreements (ISAs). They highlight the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and its sweeping overhaul of federal student loan repayment options and borrowing caps, break down differences between ISAs and traditional loans, and explain why state lawmakers and regulators are increasingly focused on these products. The episode also includes practical takeaways on licensing, servicing, and the potential future of credit reporting for private student loans and ISAs, offering industry participants a roadmap for navigating both federal and state-level changes.

In this crossover episode of Payments Pros and The Consumer Finance Podcast, guest host Taylor Gess dives into the rapidly evolving world of point-of-sale financing for medical and dental procedures with Troutman Pepper Locke Partners Jason Cover, Brent Hoard, and Erin Whaley. They unpack how HIPAA, business associate relationships, and information-sharing structures can impact financing programs in clinical settings. They explore state-level trends in California, Illinois, and New York, including new restrictions on provider involvement in financing, promotional offers, and payments. The discussion also highlights emerging risks around website tracking technologies, payment portals, and wiretapping-style lawsuits targeting digital health and payment ecosystems. Listeners will come away with a practical framework for structuring medical and dental financing arrangements, managing disputes, and anticipating the next wave of state-level regulation and enforcement.

In this crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, guest host Taylor Gess dives into the rapidly evolving world of point-of-sale financing for medical and dental procedures with Troutman Pepper Locke Partners Jason Cover, Brent Hoard, and Erin Whaley. They unpack how HIPAA, business associate relationships, and information-sharing structures can impact financing programs in clinical settings. They explore state-level trends in California, Illinois, and New York, including new restrictions on provider involvement in financing, promotional offers, and payments. The discussion also highlights emerging risks around website tracking technologies, payment portals, and wiretapping-style lawsuits targeting digital health and payment ecosystems. Listeners will come away with a practical framework for structuring medical and dental financing arrangements, managing disputes, and anticipating the next wave of state-level regulation and enforcement.

On December 12, Wisconsin legislators introduced Senate Bill 759 (SB 759), which would substantially shift Wisconsin’s approach to consumer lending. The bill would:

  • Impose a 36% annual percentage rate (APR) cap on consumer loans made by licensed lenders;
  • Adopt predominant economic interest and totality of the circumstances tests that expand which entities “make” loans under the law and are subject to licensing;
  • Add broad anti‑evasion language; and
  • Require new, detailed reporting from licensed lenders to the Division of Banking within the Department of Financial Institutions (DFI).

In this special crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, host Jason Cover is joined by colleagues Taylor Gess and Andrew Thurmond to unpack the legal and operational complexities of home solicitation and home improvement finance. The conversation analyzes the Federal Trade Commission’s Cooling-Off Rule and state analogs, highlighting practical pitfalls around oral and written cancellation notices, dealer obligations, and extended rescission periods or differing notice requirements in certain jurisdictions. The team explores how funding timing, change orders, electronic contracting, and foreign-language sales can impact risk.