The Consumer Finance Podcast

Subscribe to The Consumer Finance Podcast via RSS

In this crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Moving the Metal, Jason Cover is joined by colleagues Brooke Conkle and Chris Capurso from Troutman Pepper Locke’s Consumer Financial Services practice to tackle a topic that has been notably absent from the point-of-sale finance series until now — auto finance. As the largest point-of-sale purchase most consumers will ever make, auto finance comes with a distinct set of structural, regulatory, and litigation risks that set it apart from other point-of-sale products like home improvement or medical financing. The conversation begins with the structural mechanics of retail installment sales contracts, explaining why auto finance is dominated by dealer-originated paper assigned to finance companies rather than direct lending, and what that means for compliance and liability. Chris walks through the complexities of vehicle titling and lien perfection across a 50-state patchwork of DMV laws — including the added wrinkles that arise in the refinance context — while Brooke unpacks the litigation risks that follow when those processes go wrong, from repossession claims and bankruptcy lien avoidance to class actions rooted in the FTC Holder Rule. The episode also covers evergreen underwriting and origination risks including ECOA adverse action obligations, yo-yo financing claims, and add-on product exposure, as well as the FTC’s recent price advertising guidance and how state attorneys general are stepping into the enforcement void left by federal regulators. The episode closes with practical advice for point-of-sale finance companies considering entering the auto space.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, host Chris Willis sits down with Partners Joseph DeFazio and Joseph Froehlich to discuss the New Jersey Supreme Court’s ruling in Diana, a unanimous ruling and long-awaited victory for debt buyers operating in New Jersey. At the center of the conversation is a high-volume litigation campaign waged by the Kim Law Firm, which targeted the chain of title for consumer debts under the New Jersey Consumer Finance Licensing Act (NJCFLA). Kim’s core theory argued that any consumer debt under $50,000 — including personal loans, auto loans, and retail credit — that was ever touched, transferred, or assigned by an unlicensed entity is void and unenforceable as a matter of law, and that any attempt to collect on such a debt independently triggers statutory liability.

In this special crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Hiring to Firing, hosts Taylor Gess, Tracey Diamond, and Emily Schifter map out obligations hiding in plain sight for multistate financial services employers. The conversation covers crafting a legally defensible employee handbook, pay transparency complexities, and wage and hour classification risks. Together, they deliver guidance for banks, fintechs, lenders, and card issuers operating across state lines, in addition to addressing the thorny intersection of earned wage access, remote workers, and the rapidly evolving assortment of AI hiring laws. It is the episode every financial services employer should hear before their next hire, expansion, or employment compliance review.

In this solo episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis, co-leader of Troutman Pepper Locke’s Consumer Financial Services Regulatory practice, walks through the recent wave of federal regulatory guidance addressing the role of immigration status in consumer lending and explains why the practical impact on lenders may be far more limited than the public discourse suggests. Chris breaks down what each piece of guidance says, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s reminder that Regulation B permits immigration status considerations in ability-to-repay analyses for mortgages and credit cards, and the banking regulators’ safety and soundness and concentration risk warnings. He also addresses the competing litigation risks that complicate a simple return to restrictive eligibility policies. He then turns to the critical practical question: what, if anything, should lenders actually do?

In this crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, Taylor Gess is joined by colleagues James Stevens and Sarah Hanna from Troutman Pepper Locke’s Corporate and Consumer Financial Services practices to discuss the surge of interest among fintech and point-of-sale finance companies in obtaining bank charters, acquiring existing banks, and forming bank partnerships. With the current administration signaling an open-for-business posture at the federal banking agencies, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) actively encouraging de novo applications, payment and fintech companies are weighing their options more seriously than they have in years. The conversation covers what is driving the spike in charter applications, including from companies in the crypto, lending, and payments spaces, and how specialty charters are factoring into that trend. James and Sarah also walk through the bank partnership landscape, where enforcement activity has cooled and focus has shifted, and explain how acquiring an existing bank charter compares to starting from scratch on timing, cost, and regulatory complexity. The episode closes with practical guidance for point-of-sale finance companies considering any of these three paths, including why building internal compliance infrastructure early, engaging regulators informally, and retaining regulatory counsel sooner rather than later can make or break a successful launch.

In this crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Regulatory Oversight, Taylor Gess is joined by colleagues Michael Yaghi and Lane Page from Troutman Pepper Locke’s State AG and Regulatory Investigations, Strategy + Enforcement practice groups to discuss the hottest areas of state regulatory activity in the point-of-sale space. With federal consumer protection enforcement pulling back in certain areas under the current administration, state regulatory agencies are stepping into the spotlight to take an industrywide approach to point-of-sale finance. The conversation covers regulatory scrutiny around buy now, pay later (BNPL) products following the CFPB’s withdrawal of its interpretive rule, a coordinated seven-state inquiry into the U.S.’s largest BNPL providers, and what providers should be doing now to assess their own compliance posture. They also dig into the solar and home improvement finance sector, where states are challenging fee disclosures and targeting finance provider-merchant relationships, as well as the growing rent-to-own enforcement landscape. The episode closes with a look at what Rohit Chopra’s new role leading California’s consolidated consumer protection agency could mean for the financial services industry, with both California and New York positioning themselves as state-level successors to the CFPB’s prior enforcement mission.

In this third installment of the special series on servicemember protections, Chris Willis is joined by colleagues Taylor Gess and Jeremy Sairsingh to explore the non-pricing protections under the Military Lending Act (MLA) and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by Erin Edwards and Simon Fleischmann to break down the most significant trends reshaping the consumer finance class action landscape. With a 25% year-over-year increase in federal class action filings and consumer protection claims leading the charge, the stakes are getting higher for financial services companies. The trio covers critical areas from recent cases to highlight information that every in-house legal team needs to understand about class actions, including the significance of precise class definitions and ascertainability, standing and concrete injury, and evidentiary examination. Whether you’re managing active litigation or building a proactive defense strategy, this episode delivers the insights and practical checklist you need to navigate the class action wave.

In this second installment of the special series on servicemember protections, Chris Willis is joined again by colleagues Taylor Gess and Jeremy Sairsingh to explore how the Military Lending Act (MLA) and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) impose pricing restrictions that are far more complex than a standard state usury cap, and why that complexity must be accounted for at the product design stage.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis sits down with Jason Cover and Colin Wilson to discuss the evolving world of auto-renewal and subscription compliance, including the FTC’s click-to-cancel rule, its Eighth Circuit setback, and the states racing to fill the gap. They also spotlight a first-of-its-kind municipal rule proposed by New York City and explain why, even in a deregulatory environment, UDAP authority and ROSCA mean the compliance pressure hasn’t gone anywhere. If your business involves subscriptions, recurring billing, or point-of-sale financing, this is a conversation you can’t afford to miss.