On February 12, Representative Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) reintroduced bi-partisan legislation that would require the Senate to confirm an independent inspector general for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, arguing it would provide greater oversight.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection-Inspector General Act of 2015 (H.R. 957) is co-sponsored by Tim Walz (D-Minn.), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), and

On February 10, the Department of Justice and the North Carolina Attorney General filed a consent decree to settle claims that a Charlotte-area “buy here pay here” dealer engaged in intentionally discriminatory “reverse redlining” practices.  The regulators alleged that the defendants specifically targeted African-American customers and imposed onerous credit terms upon them without regard to

The Federal Trade Commission announced on January 30 that it has reached settlements with two auto title lenders operating in Georgia and Alabama.  The FTC had alleged that the lenders advertised certain offers without disclosing specific conditions required to receive the advertised rate, and failed to disclose that finance charges may rise after an introductory

Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced four appointments to its leadership team.

In addition to naming Anthony Alexis as assistant director of enforcement, the CFPB also announced the hiring of Leandra English as deputy chief operating officer, Agnes Bundy Scanlan as the regional director of supervision examination, and Jeffrey Sumberg as chief

On January 5, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it was creating a new complaint portal.  As shown on the FCC form for complaints, which can be found here (Word format) and here (.pdf), this portal is very much designed to capture complaints arising from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and, specifically, automatic telephone

Law360 is reporting that another subprime auto lender, the Nevada-based Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc., has disclosed in an SEC filing that it received a civil investigative subpoena from the Department of Justice.  As we’ve previously reported, both federal and state regulators recently have increased their scrutiny of subprime auto lending.

This is not the first

On January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court held oral argument in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., a case in which, as we previously reported here and here, the Petitioner has challenged the applicability of a so-called “disparate impact” theory of liability under the Fair Housing

Automotive sales and finance companies often are sued in California under either the Auto Sales Finance Act (“ASFA”) or the Vehicle Leasing Act (“VLA”).  Occasionally, these cases raise claims involving sizeable actual damages, but more often than not, they rest on purely technical disclosure violations or other violations that produced little or no actual or

Last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its annual report on financial services regulations entitled “Dodd-Frank Regulations: Regulators’ Analytical and Coordination Efforts.”

According to this report, federal financial regulators— Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, National Credit

A settlement between the New York Department of Financial Services and automotive lender Condor Capital Corp., as well as Condor’s owner, Stephen Barron, was approved this week by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.  The settlement will result in total payments to the State and consumers of up to