A recent federal court decision from the Northern District of Texas offers some useful lessons and insights for creditors relying on the Military Lending Act’s (MLA) safe harbors for verifying whether a consumer is a “covered borrower.”

In Greenwood v. Cottonwood Financial, Ltd., 2022 WL 3754706 (N.D. Tex. 2022) (see also court decision

On September 28, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Chamber), together with the Longview Chamber of Commerce, American Bankers Association, Consumer Bankers Association, Independent Bankers Association of Texas, Texas Association of Business, and Texas Bankers Association, filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to prevent the amendment

In a much anticipated decision released September 8, an en banc panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s decision that a debt collector’s outsourcing of its letter process to a third-party mail vendor violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s (FDCPA) prohibition on third-party disclosure and ruled that plaintiff Hunstein

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) agreed to a March 31, 2023 deadline to issue a final rule under Section 1071 of Dodd-Frank. Section 1071 amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to impose significant data collection requirements on small business creditors. The CFPB accepted the deadline as part of a previously agreed litigation settlement regarding alleged delays in the rulemaking process. The court accepted the deadline and maintained jurisdiction over the matter to oversee compliance with the settlement and to address any potential requests for modification.

On May 26, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) announced that federal anti-discrimination law requires companies to explain to applicants the specific reasons for denying an application for credit or taking other adverse actions, even if the creditor is relying on credit models using complex algorithms.

In a corresponding Consumer Financial Protection Circular

On May 6, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released its Fair Lending Report for 2021. As in 2020’s report, published last year, the CFPB shows that its focus remains on what it characterizes as “financial inclusion, racial and economic equity, and fair competition”:

“As part of the prioritization process, the CFPB

On May 2, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released its Supervisory Highlights report on legal violations discovered during examinations in the second half of 2021.

The Supervisory Highlights detail issues identified by CFPB examination teams across a wide number of segments of the consumer financial services industry. Summarized below are those issues

On March 16, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) unveiled an enormous change to its fair lending philosophy that will have major ramifications for financial services providers of all types. In a press release, the CFPB announced that it will begin targeting discrimination as an unfair practice under its unfair, deceptive, and

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, has introduced the Arbitration Fairness for Consumers Act. The legislation, introduced on March 7, proposes to amend Title X of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to prohibit pre-dispute arbitration agreements and class-action waivers in contracts

The Northern District of California has approved a $53 million settlement to be paid by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) to resolve racial discrimination claims concerning Fannie Mae’s management and marketing of real estate-owned (REO) properties.

In 2016, multiple nonprofit housing organizations filed a complaint against Fannie Mae, alleging that the organization failed