The California Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee is currently considering Senate Bill (SB) 1286, which would expand the scope of the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (RFDCPA) to also prohibit debt collectors from engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the collection of small business debts.

On April 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an order effectively reversing the district court’s decision to transfer the lawsuit challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB or Bureau) credit card late fee rule from the Northern District of Texas to the District Court for the District of Columbia (D.D.C), finding that the Texas district court lacked jurisdiction to issue its order because the plaintiffs’ appeal of the effective denial of their motion for preliminary injunction was already pending before the appellate court.

On April 2, the California Senate Judicial Committee passed Senate Bill 1061. The bill seeks to prevent health care providers and contracted collection agencies from providing information about patients’ medical debt to credit reporting agencies. The bill would also prevent credit reporting agencies from accepting, storing, or sharing information related to medical debt.

According to a recent report by WebRecon, court filings under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) were down for the month of February while court filings under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) were up. Year-to-date everything is still up by double digits compared to 2023.

On March 29, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released its Consumer Response Annual Report, providing a high-level overview of the 1,657,600 consumer complaints received by the Bureau from January 1 through December 31, 2023. According to the report, the most-complained-about consumer financial product and service categories in 2023 were consumer reporting (79%), debt collection (7%), credit card (4%), checking or savings account (4%), and mortgage (2%). The CFPB’s 2023 Consumer Response Report found a continued increase in consumer reporting complaints, with more than one million of such complaints sent to the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies (CRA). The CFPB encourages companies to consider how best to incorporate complaint information into their institutional processes to help ensure that problems are detected early and addressed quickly.

In this episode of Payments Pros, Carlin McCrory is joined by Nick St. John, director of regulatory compliance at America’s Credit Unions, to discuss the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and related developments from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Enacted in 2021, the CTA aims to combat the use of anonymous legal entities for money laundering. It mandates that legal entities report their beneficial ownership information to FinCEN, which maintains a database accessible to law enforcement, financial institutions, and other entities that meet specific criteria.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis and Josh McBeain discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) proposed rule on overdraft fees. The rule, which only applies to large financial institutions with assets over $10 billion, aims to regulate overdraft services by altering the definition of ‘finance charge,’ effectively subjecting these institutions to Regulation Z’s disclosure and substantive provisions. Chris and Josh delve into the complexities of the proposed rule, considering its potential implications and the likelihood of litigation challenges from the industry. They also discuss the role of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and the concept of Chevron deference in this context.

On April 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an order staying the district court’s decision to transfer the lawsuit challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) credit card late fee rule from the Northern District of Texas to the District Court for the District of Columbia (D.D.C). As discussed here, on March 28, 2024, the district court had transferred the case to D.D.C. finding an “attenuated nexus” to the Fort Worth Division since, according to the district court, only one of the six plaintiffs had even a remote tie to the division. The Fifth Circuit’s stay is in effect until 5:00 pm on Friday, April 5, 2024.