As anticipated, yesterday the CFPB announced the release of its report to Congress following the CFPB’s study of arbitration agreements in connection with offering or providing consumer financial products or services. According to the CFPB, the study’s results “indicat[e] that arbitration agreements restrict consumers’ relief for disputes with financial service providers by limiting class…

On March 10, the CFPB will hold a field hearing on arbitration at 11 a.m. in Newark, New Jersey.

The event will include remarks by Richard Cordray, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and will be held at the J. Harry Smith Lecture Hall at Essex Community College, 303 University Avenue.  Tomorrow’s field hearing…

On March 5, a judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected a plaintiff’s proposal to notify proposed class members of a Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit filed by a group of former interns against Gawker via various social media platforms, including Reddit and Tumblr pages, LinkedIn, and…

The Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Protection (“GOCP”) issued a statement on March 5, announcing a $13 million settlement with RSB Equity Group, LLC (“RSB”) and its principal, Roy Mullman.  The settlement resolved charges that the company committed multiple violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act.  More…

On February 25, the Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”), Benjamin M. Lawsky, spoke at Columbia Law School regarding the increased role of states as regulators, especially in the case of emerging risks such as cybersecurity.  The speech, titled “Financial Federalism: The Catalytic Role of State Regulators in a Post-Financial Crisis…

On March 3, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in Stalley v. ADS Alliance Data Systems, Inc., No. 14-10872, held that a servicer of credit card accounts did not violate the Florida Security Communications Act (FSCA) when it recorded conversations with consumers in the ordinary course of business without the consent of all parties.

In…

Ten state attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission this month announced that they had secured consent judgments against a number of companies that had engaged in a telemarketing campaign involving billions of robocalls.

The regulators alleged that the robocalls incorporated sales pitches for cruise vacations with political surveys.

Although political surveys are not barred…

On February 27, the White House proposed a bill that would provide consumers with a “Privacy Bill of Rights” as well as provide an enforcement mechanism for data breach enforcement actions by the FTC and state attorneys general.  The language used is similar to a proposal by the administration in 2012 which failed to gain…

We reported earlier this month that the Federal Housing Authority recently provided an option for reverse-mortgage lenders to allow eligible surviving non-borrowing spouses to remain in their homes after the death of their borrowing spouses.  According to a report recently released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it appears that this option became necessary due…

On February 19, Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, addressed the agency’s Consumer Advisory Board.  In this speech, he highlighted the CFPB’s ongoing oversight of the credit reporting industry.  He noted first that the three biggest credit reporting agencies maintain files on over 200 million consumers.  These credit reports and scores…