In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, host Chris Willis is joined by Troutman Pepper Locke Partner Lori Sommerfield and Charles River Associates VP and Practice Leader of Financial Economics Marsha Courchane to discuss the current administration’s “debanking” initiative established through Executive Order 14331. They discuss key actions taken by federal agencies to implement it, expectations for financial institutions and small business lenders to conduct internal reviews, regulatory reporting deadlines, and consequences for noncompliance. This episode also features practical tips on tools and technology that institutions/small business lenders can use to facilitate conducting debanking reviews and highlights the tension between the debanking initiative and financial institutions’ need to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act and other federal anti-money laundering laws.

On today’s episode of Moving the Metal: The Auto Finance Podcast, hosts Brooke Conkle and Chris Capurso discuss TransUnion’s study on fraud-related charge-off losses in auto lending, exploring how bad actors enter the car-buying journey through tactics such as application phishing, synthetic identities, trade-in data exposure, and “digital warming.” They examine why auto fraud can have outsized impacts compared to other products, the surprising concentration of losses among higher credit tiers, and the risks posed by credit washing, which can inflate perceived creditworthiness and distort underwriting decisions. The episode closes with a festive holiday movie countdown and a friendly nod to the eternal “Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?” debate.

In this crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, Jason Cover sits down with Brooke Conkle and Caleb Rosenberg to demystify the Federal Trade Commission’s Holder Rule and its day‑to‑day impact on point‑of‑sale (POS) finance programs. They explain why creditors and assignees inherit customers’ claims and defenses against merchants, what transactions are in scope and out of scope, how liability is generally capped at amounts paid (and why attorneys’ fees remain a live issue), and how merchant/vendor/dealer agreements can shift risk back to sellers. The conversation turns practical with a compliance toolkit: robust upfront diligence, continuous monitoring of merchant and consumer complaints (including requiring merchants to forward complaints), and a risk‑based response that separates meritless claims from those requiring redress. The panel also highlights enforcement and litigation trends and why, at 50 years old, the Holder Rule remains bedrock law that POS lenders cannot ignore, even as strong contracts and oversight materially mitigate exposure.

On this episode of FCRA Focus, Kim Phan is joined by Rachel Kelley and Alisha Sears from the Mortgage Bankers Association to discuss the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, which amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to address residential mortgage trigger leads with the goal of curbing abusive calls while preserving meaningful competition. This law now requires both a firm offer of credit and documented consumer authorization, with limited exceptions for current originators, servicers, and depository institutions/credit unions holding an account. They discuss how the law places the primary obligations on consumer reporting agencies, what lenders should expect around consent certifications, the Government Accountability Office study on trigger-leads, and the upcoming effective date.

In this crossover episode of Payments Pros and The Consumer Finance Podcast, Jason Cover, Mark Furletti, and Andrew Thurmond return to unpack the complex landscape of residential solar finance. They highlight practical complications lenders face with home improvement projects involving power purchase agreements, leases, tax credit, retail installment contracts, renewable energy certificates, and more. The discussion also provides insight on trends in the solar industry, bankruptcy, the rise of solar disclosure requirements and state-level oversight, and compliance measures to mitigate risk.

In this crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, Jason Cover, Mark Furletti, and Andrew Thurmond return to unpack the complex landscape of residential solar finance. They highlight practical complications lenders face with home improvement projects involving power purchase agreements, leases, tax credit, retail installment contracts, renewable energy certificates, and more. The discussion also provides insight on trends in the solar industry, bankruptcy, the rise of solar disclosure requirements and state-level oversight, and compliance measures to mitigate risk.

In this special crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, host Jason Cover is joined by colleagues Taylor Gess and Andrew Thurmond to unpack the legal and operational complexities of home solicitation and home improvement finance. The conversation analyzes the Federal Trade Commission’s Cooling-Off Rule and state analogs, highlighting practical pitfalls around oral and written cancellation notices, dealer obligations, and extended rescission periods or differing notice requirements in certain jurisdictions. The team explores how funding timing, change orders, electronic contracting, and foreign-language sales can impact risk.

In this episode of FCRA Focus, co-hosts Dave Gettings and Kim Phan are joined by partner Stefanie Jackman to unpack the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) evolving interpretation of Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) preemption. They trace the timeline from the CFPB’s July 2022 interpretive rule, through its withdrawal in May 2025, to the October 2025 confirmation and new guidance embracing a broader view of preemption under 15 U.S.C. § 1681t(b)(1). The team discusses how the CFPB’s latest stance could impact state laws regulating consumer reports beyond “credit” — including medical debt, rental information, and criminal background checks — and why interpretive rules, despite being helpful and persuasive, are not binding on courts. They also explore practical implications for litigation and compliance, the current judicial environment for agency deference, and the ongoing tension between the need for nationwide uniformity and the growing patchwork of state-by-state mini-FCRA laws.

In this crossover episode of Payments Pros and The Consumer Finance Podcast, guest host Taylor Gess is joined by Jason Cover and Jeremy Sairsingh to discuss buy now, pay later (BNPL) products as they continue to dive into the Point-of-Sale Finance Series. They highlight the complexities of BNPL offerings and the transformation of these payment models with varying fee structures and repayment terms. As these BNPL products mature, they challenge traditional definitions and regulatory frameworks, prompting a closer look at how consumers and providers are adapting to this financing option and its effects. With continuous industry innovations, regulators are working to keep pace, raising questions about the future direction of BNPL regulation and its impact.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by colleagues Jason Manning, Angelo Stio, and Rob Jenkin to unpack the surge of litigations arising from the use of tracking technologies (e.g., cookies, pixels, and session tools) on websites. This episode explains how plaintiff firms are repurposing federal and state wiretap and “trap-and-trace” laws, as well as the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), to assert claims associated with a business’s use of tracking technologies without consent.