On January 11, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it reached a settlement with law firm Forster & Garbus, LLP in its lawsuit over alleged illegal debt collection practices. Specifically, the CFPB alleged that, from 2014 through 2016, fewer than a dozen attorneys filed more than 99,000 debt collection lawsuits, while having the requisite
As forecasted in its 2022 Fall Rulemaking Agenda discussed here, today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a proposed rule with request for public comments that would require certain nonbank covered entities, with limited exceptions, to submit information on terms and conditions in their form contracts that “seek to waive or limit
As discussed here, on June 21, 2022, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit and on June 27, 2022, obtained a settlement agreement with Meta Platforms Inc. (Meta previously known as Facebook) to resolve allegations that Meta’s housing advertising system discriminated against Facebook users in violation of the Fair Housing Act
On Dec. 15, 2022, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s (FFIEC) Task Force on Consumer Compliance adopted revised examination procedures for the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and its implementing regulation, Regulation F.
The revised interagency procedures will apply to examinations conducted by FFIEC’s member regulators of their respective regulated institutions. FFIEC is composed
On January 4, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its 2022 Fall Rulemaking Agenda containing pre-rule, proposed rule, and final rules under consideration. The CFPB releases regulatory agendas twice a year in voluntary conjunction with a broader initiative led by the Office of Budget and Management to publish a Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory actions across the federal government. In the preamble to the Federal Register notice, the CFPB states that the information is current as of September 30, 2022 and identifies regulatory matters the CFPB “reasonably anticipates” having under consideration during the period from December 1, 2022, to November 30, 2023. The CFPB has not yet posted a blog or issued a press release about the agenda.
On January 3, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its annual report detailing what it characterized as “improvements and deficiencies” in the nationwide consumer reporting agencies’ (NCRAs) responses to complaints. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires the CFPB to submit this annual report to Congress. While in last year’s report, the CFPB said
The attorney general of Massachusetts reached a settlement with a payment processing company that allegedly assisted a debt settlement company engaged in charging consumers premature and inflated fees.
In 2021, debt settlement company DMB Financial LLC entered into settlements with the Massachusetts AG and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over claims that it engaged
As discussed here, on October 19, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd. (CFSA) v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) held that the CFPB’s funding mechanism violates the appropriations clause because the CFPB does not receive its funding from annual congressional appropriations like most executive agencies, but instead, receives funding directly from the Federal Reserve based on a request by the CFPB’s director. In response, on November 15, as discussed here, the CFPB filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, requesting not only that the Court hear the case, but also that it be decided on an expedited basis during the Court’s current term. On December 15, two groups of state attorneys general, with diametrically opposed positions, filed separate amicus briefs, urging the Court to grant the CFPB’s petition and intervene to stave off the “confusion and regulatory chaos” caused by the appellate court’s decision.
On December 6, during the 2022 Interagency Fair Lending Webinar, David Evans, a senior fair lending specialist with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), discussed some of the specific discrimination issues identified during FDIC examinations that were ultimately referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) as potential fair lending violations. One area highlighted in the
As a further reflection of its recent emphasis on “repeat offenders,” on December 12, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a proposed rule with request for public comment that would require certain nonbank covered entities (with exclusions for insured depository institutions and credit unions) that are under certain final public orders issued by a