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 18, America’s Credit Unions sent a letter to the Honorable Kyle Hauptman, Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), urging the agency to initiate rulemaking that would allow credit unions to take custody of digital assets for their members. This request comes in the wake of the recently enacted “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act of 2025” (GENIUS Act), which provides a comprehensive federal framework for the regulation of payment stablecoins.

On July 14, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) filed a status report announcing its decision not to reissue its Medical Debt Collection Advisory Opinion, which had been issued in 2024 to “remind debt collectors of their obligations to comply with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act [FDCPA] and Regulation F’s prohibition on false, deceptive, or misleading representations or means in connection with the collection of any medical debt and unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect any medical debt.” The Advisory Opinion had been challenged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by ACA International and Collection Bureau Services, Inc.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by veteran litigators and Troutman Pepper Locke Partners Mary Zinsner and Heryka Knoespel to dissect a groundbreaking Fourth Circuit decision on bank liability in wire transfer fraud cases. The ruling clarifies the actual knowledge standard under the Uniform Commercial Code, rejecting negligence-based liability and safeguarding the speed and efficiency of the banking system. Discover how this decision impacts future litigation and the banking industry’s approach to fraud prevention.

On July 10, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) jointly announced the effective disbandment of the interagency Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) Task Force, a Biden-era initiative aimed at addressing discrimination in real estate appraisals through a whole of federal government approach. The announcement states that this decision to eliminate “the core policies of the PAVE Task Force” is in response to President Trump’s Executive Orders, including Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-Living Crisis.

California Senate Bill 940 (SB 940), enacted in late 2024, introduces several key changes to arbitrations involving “consumer contracts,” which is defined as a contract prepared by a seller and signed by a consumer for the sale or lease of goods or services or for the extension of credit purchased or used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. Below, we explore the major provisions of SB 940 and their implications.

On July 14, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) jointly issued a statement addressing the safekeeping of crypto-assets by banking organizations on behalf of their customers. This announcement clarifies how existing laws, regulations, and risk management principles apply to the safekeeping of crypto-assets by banks and does not create any new supervisory expectations. Importantly, the federal banking regulators clearly signal that banks can serve as custodians of digital assets including storing cryptographic keys.