Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a report analyzing the use of chatbots in consumer finance and the impact on customer service. The report notes that financial institutions are increasingly using chatbots to reduce the costs of human customer service agents, and moving away from simple, rules-based chatbots toward more sophisticated technologies, such
On December 10, 2023, New York General Business Law § 520-e requiring a grace period for the use of credit card rewards points will go into effect. Specifically, the legislation provides that if any credit card rewards program is modified, cancelled, closed, or terminated, the card holder must be provided notice of such change “as
As any Wall Street litigator knows, in the securities industry, it is typical for brokerage firms to incentivize their employed financial advisers with significant upfront compensation at the beginning of a relationship or even at the beginning of each new financial year. These up-front payments are often structured as “forgivable loans” and memorialized in promissory
With a roll-out led by Vice President Harris, the federal financial services regulators have released the long-awaited proposed automated valuation model (AVM) rule, referencing both home appraisal bias in mortgage lending and algorithmic bias, but providing no guidance at all about how to address those issues. On June 1, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
On May 18, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed into law the Commerce Omnibus Bill, which, among other things, amends Minnesota Statute §§ 47.60 and 47.601 to cap the annual percentage rates (APR) on consumer small loans and consumer short-term loans at a 50% all-in APR, and expressly provides for predominant economic interest and totality
As recently discussed on our podcast here, section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act) amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to require lenders to collect information about small business credit applications they receive, including geographic and demographic data concerning the principal owners, lending decisions, and the price of credit. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued its proposed rule in 2021, and after considering the over 2,500 comments it received, on March 30, 2023, the CFPB issued the massive, highly technical, and complicated Final Rule. The Final Rule and its accompanying discussion and analysis, as well as the Official Commentary totals 888 pages exclusive of the 123-page Filing Instruction Guide and numerous other documents released by the Bureau. In this first in a multi-post blog series, we will provide a high-level overview of the Final Rule.
On May 19, the Massachusetts Division of Banks entered into a consent order with Educational Computer Systems, Inc. (ECSI) to resolve allegations that ECSI was engaging in the business of a third party loan servicer or student loan servicer without the appropriate license. Under the terms of the consent order, ECSI must: 1) pay an
If a financial institution unilaterally reopens a closed deposit account to process a transaction, does that constitute an unfair act or practice under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA)? According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in its Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2023-02 issued on May 10, the answer is yes: “This practice may
As discussed here and here, in October 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached a $3.38 million settlement with Passport Automotive Group (Passport) and two of its officers over allegations that the automotive group violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and the FTC Act by adding “junk fees” onto the cost of its
As discussed here, D.K. et al. v. United Behavioral Health et al. is a case that has been carefully watched in the health benefits space for its potential to change what health plan administrators must include in adverse benefit determination letters. On May 15, 2023, the Tenth Circuit issued its opinion affirming the district