On October 10, California Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 483 (AB 483) into law, introducing new regulations on early termination fees in fixed term installment contracts. This legislation applies to contracts entered into or modified on or after August 1, 2026, and prohibits the use of termination fees unless specific conditions are met.
To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal and state events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied Empower Finance’s motion to compel arbitration in a class action lawsuit concerning its earned wage access (EWA) product, Cash Advance. In Vickery v. Empower Finance, Inc., the court found that Empower’s Cash Advance product was “credit” under the Military Lending Act (MLA) making Empower’s arbitration agreement unenforceable under the MLA, which prohibits arbitration agreements for consumer credit extended to active-duty service members and their dependents.
In an unpublished case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that actions to obtain a judgment and enforce that judgment in a collection lawsuit filed outside the statute of limitations do not create a continuing violation under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA).
On October 6, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the California Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Act. This legislation aims to fortify consumer protections and enhance transparency in the car-buying process. The enactment of this law follows a series of discussions and amendments, as highlighted in our previous blog and podcast, which traced the bill’s evolution and its alignment with the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) vacated CARS Rule.
To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal and state events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.
On October 2, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) published a final rule in the Federal Register, officially extending compliance dates for its 2023 small business lending data collection and reporting rule under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B, which implements Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The final rule replaces an interim rule released in June 2025 that pushed back compliance deadlines. This extension was issued by the CFPB in response to ongoing litigation by both industry and consumer advocacy groups, as well as court orders, to create a uniform timeline for financial institutions to comply with data collection and reporting requirements for women-owned, minority-owned, and small businesses.
On September 29, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced significant modifications to the proposed regulations under the Digital Financial Assets Law (DFAL) and the Money Transmission Act (MTA). These changes are part of an ongoing effort to refine the regulatory framework governing digital financial assets and ensure clarity in the application of these laws.
According to a recent report by WebRecon, court filings under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) were all down for the month of August. However, year over year, only FDCPA complaints have decreased, and not by much.
To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal and state events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.