The Consumer Finance Podcast

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In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis and Lori Sommerfield unpack the rapid reshaping of the fair lending and UDAAP regulatory enforcement landscape as part of the Year in Review and Look Ahead series. They cover the federal government’s efforts to roll back use of the disparate impact theory, reduce redlining and other enforcement actions, and implement the new debanking initiative, along with the CFPB’s evolving expectations concerning ECOA and Section 1071, and growing state-level oversight as state attorneys general, state regulators, and new state AI/disparate impact regimes fill the federal gap. With long statutes of limitations and 2026 rulemakings ahead, they underscore why financial institutions cannot relax fair lending and UDAAP compliance, even amid apparent federal retreat.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, host Chris Willis is joined by Consumer Financial Services Practice Group leadership Michael Lacy and Simon Fleischmann to preview the firm’s annual Consumer Financial Services Year in Review and Look Ahead publication. They describe how the publication provides concise summaries of the past year’s key trends, cases, and regulatory developments — along with informed predictions for 2026 and beyond — across areas such as consumer class actions, bankruptcy, credit reporting, digital assets, mass arbitration, mortgage and auto finance, payment processing, and privacy and data security. They also introduce an upcoming companion podcast series featuring several of the publication’s section authors.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, host Chris Willis examines signs that the CFPB is reactivating its supervisory and enforcement functions after a period of relative inactivity. The discussion notes reports that the CFPB plans to restart supervisory exams — likely remote, less burdensome, and focused on large banks — and raises questions about whether those exams will address debanking, despite the CFPB’s limited jurisdiction over nonconsumer banking relationships. The conversation also underscores that some previously dormant enforcement investigations are being revived, indicating a return to a more active CFPB.

In this special joint episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, Taylor Gess and Kim Phan discuss key privacy and data security risks in point-of-sale finance. They dive into regulators’ growing view that every player in the payments chain shares responsibility for protecting data, highlighting best practices for vendor management, PCI DSS oversight, and incident response planning. The episode also touches on the shifting patchwork of state privacy and breach notification laws, GLBA exemptions, and the risks of data monetization, including when packaging and selling transaction data can trigger Fair Credit Reporting Act obligations.

In this crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, Taylor Gess, Jason Cover, and Caleb Rosenberg explore the heightened attention from regulators and legislators on small business finance programs and trade credit. They discuss the growth of fintech-driven and embedded business-to-business financing, the shift from simple trade credit to more complex installment and term products, and how these offerings increasingly trigger disclosure, registration, rate cap, and fair lending requirements — sometimes even pulling in federal rules like Reg E and Reg B when consumer accounts are involved. This episode also emphasizes the expanding structure of state commercial financing laws in California, Texas, and other states, with a focus on new disclosure regimes, and novel consumer-type protections.

In this special joint episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, guest host Taylor Gess talks to Troutman Pepper Locke colleagues Stefanie Jackman, Caleb Rosenberg, and Jeremy Sairsingh about student lending and income share agreements (ISAs). They highlight the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and its sweeping overhaul of federal student loan repayment options and borrowing caps, break down differences between ISAs and traditional loans, and explain why state lawmakers and regulators are increasingly focused on these products. The episode also includes practical takeaways on licensing, servicing, and the potential future of credit reporting for private student loans and ISAs, offering industry participants a roadmap for navigating both federal and state-level changes.

In this special crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Regulatory Oversight, Chris Willis is joined by colleagues Lori Sommerfield and Matthew Berns to discuss New Jersey’s sweeping new disparate impact regulations under the Law Against Discrimination. They break down one of the most comprehensive state-level disparate impact rules in the U.S., the contrasts with traditional federal standards, and implications for enforcement in financial services. The discussion dives into credit scores, underwriting models, AI and automated decision-making tools, and the difference between New Jersey’s approach and the Trump administration’s effort to scale back disparate impact at the federal level, offering practical takeaways for lenders and other covered entities navigating this shifting landscape.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, host Chris Willis is joined by his colleague Lou Manetti from the firm’s Chicago office to unpack a significant new Illinois Supreme Court decision on standing in consumer cases based on federal statutes. Chris and Lou walk through the court’s FCRA “receipt truncation” ruling, explaining how Illinois — long thought to have more generous standing rules than federal court — has now imported a “concrete injury” requirement for common-law standing where the statute does not expressly confer a right to sue. The discussion compares Illinois’ approach to federal Article III jurisprudence and explores how the court distinguished between statutory and common-law standing, why FCRA did not qualify for statutory standing, and what counts (and doesn’t count) as a concrete injury. Lou also outlines the practical implications for FCRA, FDCPA, TILA, and RESPA litigation in Illinois state courts, including the reduced payoff from forum shopping after federal standing dismissals and new avenues for defense motions challenging bare procedural violation cases that lack real-world harm.

In this crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, guest host Taylor Gess dives into the rapidly evolving world of point-of-sale financing for medical and dental procedures with Troutman Pepper Locke Partners Jason Cover, Brent Hoard, and Erin Whaley. They unpack how HIPAA, business associate relationships, and information-sharing structures can impact financing programs in clinical settings. They explore state-level trends in California, Illinois, and New York, including new restrictions on provider involvement in financing, promotional offers, and payments. The discussion also highlights emerging risks around website tracking technologies, payment portals, and wiretapping-style lawsuits targeting digital health and payment ecosystems. Listeners will come away with a practical framework for structuring medical and dental financing arrangements, managing disputes, and anticipating the next wave of state-level regulation and enforcement.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, host Chris Willis is joined by Troutman Pepper Locke Partner Lori Sommerfield and Relman Colfax Co-Managing Partner Stephen Hayes for a candid discussion about how redlining has traditionally been defined, how redlining was defined and applied during the Biden administration, and how it may return under a future administration or in cases brought by state regulators or private litigants. This episode further explores the tension between the standards set forth in enforcement actions and those applied in supervisory examinations, and the role of statistical analysis and HMDA data in redlining cases. The podcast also tackles issues like digitally targeted advertising and what shifting regulatory priorities under the current administration may mean for future redlining enforcement risk, offering a balanced look at where redlining law has been — and where it may be headed next.