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
On December 8, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine transmitted the “Stop Discrimination by Algorithms Act of 2021 (Act)” for consideration and enactment by the Council of the District of Columbia. While discrimination of various types is prohibited by a variety of federal and D.C. laws, this bill would apply to a
On January 18, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) conditionally approved an application by Social Finance Inc. (SoFi) to acquire Golden Pacific Bank, National Association, so long as the new bank does “not engage in any crypto-asset activities or services.”
SoFi’s application allows for the creation of SoFi Bank, National Association (SoFi
On November 29, House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and committee member Bill Foster (D-IL) sent a letter to the leaders of multiple federal regulators, asking them to monitor technological development in the financial services industry to ensure that algorithmic bias does not occur. The letter was sent to the following individuals:
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a “Serving Communities of Color” report that details fraud and consumer issues that have a disproportionately negative impact on communities of color. This report is the latest installment released by the FTC on the topic and follows prior initiatives, such as the 2014 “Every Community Initiative“
On October 20, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) published a notice in the New York State Register announcing that it has issued a proposed regulation to implement S 5470-B, which requires disclosures for commercial financing transactions of $2.5 million or less under a commercial financing agreement.
The notice allows for public
Two important updates impacting compliance with the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Reg Z have just been announced.
The TILA Examination Procedures have been revised and updated to reflect four final rules that amend the qualified mortgage (QM) provisions of Regulation Z. The rules in question were issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
On August 31, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued an industry letter to all supervised mortgage lending institutions and their affiliates on preventing sexual orientation discrimination in mortgage lending. New York’s Fair Lending Law prohibits discrimination in, among other things, the granting, withholding, extending, or renewing, or in the fixing of the
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Illinois Predatory Loan Prevention Act (Act) into immediate effect on March 23. The Act imposes sweeping changes and contains broad language, leaving the state’s lenders and borrowers with an uncertain future.
To understand this new law, one must recognize that Illinois based the Act on the federal government’s Military