On October 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court’s vacatur of a maritime attachment order, providing a detailed analysis of the requirements for personal and in rem jurisdiction over attached property under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued its final rule on personal financial data rights, purportedly aimed at enhancing consumer control over their financial data and promoting competition in the financial services industry. According to the Bureau’s press release, “[t]he rule requires financial institutions, credit card issuers, and other financial providers to unlock an individual’s personal financial data and transfer it to another provider at the consumer’s request for free… help[ing] lower prices on loans and improve customer service across payments, credit, and banking markets.” Later that same day, a complaint was filed challenging the Bureau’s authority.

Yesterday, we discussed the constitutional legal challenge against New York City’s recently amended debt collection rules, which were scheduled to go into effect on December 1, 2024. These rules would stringently regulate various debt collection activities by debt collectors operating in the city. Today, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) announced a delay in the enforcement of these new rules until April 1, 2025.

New York City’s recently amended debt collection rules — scheduled to go into effect on December 1, 2024 and which would stringently regulate various debt collection activities by debt collectors operating in the city — have drawn a constitutional legal challenge. Whether this challenge will affect the effective date is yet to be seen. The plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent the enforcement of the rules amending Title 6 of the Rules of the City of New York, which they argue are unconstitutional and preempted by federal and state law.

On October 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that they reached a settlement with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation (Fairway). This settlement addresses allegations of redlining in majority-Black neighborhoods in Birmingham, Alabama. Fairway is headquartered in Madison, WI, but operates under the trade name MortgageBanc in the Birmingham area. Fairway, the third-largest mortgage lender in the United States, is now the second non-bank mortgage company to enter into a redlining settlement.

On October 4, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) announced increased dollar thresholds used to determine whether certain consumer credit and lease transactions in 2025 are exempt from Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) and Regulation M (Consumer Leasing).

In Aley v. Lightfire Partners, LLC, a U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York certified aa Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action for all persons whose telephone numbers were on the National Do Not Call Registry (DNC) but who received more than one telemarketing call from the defendant based on alleged consent given to a third-party website.

On August 27, U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced the “Unleashing AI Innovation in Financial Services Act” (S. 4951), a bill aimed at fostering artificial intelligence (AI) innovation within the financial services industry. According to his press release, this legislation is part of a broader set of five bipartisan AI bills that Senator Rounds has released for consideration by Congress this fall.

A U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri recently dismissed a lawsuit under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA), finding that two letters sent to the plaintiffs’ attorney did not constitute harassment or abuse under 15 U.S.C. § 1692d.