Regulatory Enforcement + Compliance

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On December 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held oral arguments in Insurance Marketing Coalition Limited (IMC) v. Federal Communication Commission (FCC), which challenges the FCC’s December 2023 order under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The stated aim of the order is to reduce unwanted robocalls and texts by closing the “lead generator loophole,” and require “one-to-one consent” for telemarketing communications. The new rule is set to take effect next month. However, during oral arguments, the Eleventh Circuit judges expressed skepticism about the FCC’s justification for its new rule.

This article was republished on insideARM on January 2, 2025.

This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released its semiannual regulatory agenda, outlining its planned rulemaking initiatives. This agenda includes a mix of rules in the pre-rulemaking, proposed rule, and final rule stages, covering a wide range of topics from medical debt reporting to financial data transparency. The CFPB releases regulatory agendas twice a year in voluntary conjunction with a broader initiative led by the Office of Budget and Management to publish a Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory actions across the federal government.

On December 17, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the release of its final Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, also known as the “Junk Fee Rule”, which aims to address so-called bait-and-switch pricing tactics and other deceptive practices in the live-event ticketing and short-term lodging industries. This rule, codified at 16 CFR Part 464, specifically targets practices that purportedly hide the total price of an item or service and misrepresent fees and will go into effect 120 days after publication in the Federal Register.

On December 16, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a special edition of its Supervisory Highlights, detailing a range of activities identified by CFPB examiners across the student loan origination and servicing markets. According to the Bureau, student loans represent the second-largest form of U.S. consumer debt at more than $1.7 trillion in total outstanding balances. The Bureau has been heavily focused on student lending issues for the past several years, and this latest special edition of Supervisory Highlights underlines that focus.

On December 12, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) announced the finalization of its rule addressing overdraft fees. The rule targets financial institutions with more than $10 billion in assets, imposing new restrictions and requirements on how these institutions manage and charge for overdraft services. However, with the upcoming change in administration, questions remain as to whether the final rule will ever take effect.

On December 9, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) announced the launch of a rulemaking process addressing credit reporting on survivors of domestic violence, elder abuse, and other forms of financial abuse.

On December 10, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) issued a letter to all federally insured credit unions, highlighting the risks associated with certain overdraft and non-sufficient funds (NSF) fee practices. The letter emphasizes the potential harm to consumers and the heightened risks to credit unions, including reputational, consumer compliance, third-party, and litigation risks, resulting…

On December 10, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it is distributing more than $540,000 in refunds to victims of an abusive debt collector group. The debt collectors allegedly threatened consumers with lawsuits or arrest for debts that they might not have even owed.

On December 6, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) announced an order asserting supervisory authority over Google Payment Corp. (GPC), a subsidiary of Google LLC. This decision was based on alleged “risks to consumers” associated with GPC’s retired peer-to-peer (P2P) payment product. The CFPB’s order, however, does not assert that GPC violated any laws or engaged in wrongdoing. Instead, it relies on a relatively small number of unverified consumer complaints to justify future examinations, even though GPC stopped offering the product.

In a significant development in the ongoing litigation over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB or Bureau) Final Rule on credit card late fees, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas denied the CFPB’s motions to dismiss the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, transfer the case to the District of Columbia, and dissolve the preliminary injunction. This ruling follows the court’s earlier request for further briefing on the issue of associational standing, as discussed in our prior blog post, here.