Regulatory Enforcement + Compliance

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On July 31, Justice Anil Singh, a Manhattan Commercial Division judge, dismissed a $1 billion suit filed against various credit ratings agencies alleging fraud connected to the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities prior to the 2008 financial crisis.  According to the court, New York’s six-year statute of limitations barred the lawsuit, which was brought by…

District Judge William J. Nealon of the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued two recent decisions holding that both a Quick Response (“QR”) code and a bar code appearing through the glassine window of an envelope containing a collection letter violate section 1692f(8) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which prohibits “using any language or …

On July 30, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it reached an agreement with Residential Credit Solutions, Inc., a national mortgage servicing company, whereby the mortgage loan servicer agreed to pay $1.5 million in restitution to borrowers and a $100,000 civil penalty.  The CFPB alleged that the Residential Credit Solutions had failed to honor…

On July 29, the Consumer Federation of America and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators released their annual survey of consumer complaint data from state and local consumer agencies, which is based on 280,000 claims to thirty-seven agencies from twenty-one states and the District of Columbia.

Just as in 2013, the most common complaints arose …

On July 29, the House Financial Services Committee reported House Bill 1737, the “Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act,” to the House for full consideration.  If passed, the bill would rescind the CFPB’s March 2013 fair credit guidance to indirect auto lenders (CFPB Bulletin 2013-02), and require the CFPB, when proposing …

In a groundbreaking decision on July 24, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Texas bank could pursue its constitutional challenge against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its Director.  This decision was notable in allowing a regulated entity to maintain a so-called “pre-enforcement” lawsuit against a federal agency which contested the legality …

On July 23, the full Senate Committee on Appropriations approved 12 appropriations measures, including provisions to increase oversight of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by bringing its funding under the annual Congressional appropriations process and to change the CFPB’s leadership structure to a five-member commission.  Our discussion of the Subcommittee’s work leading to this …

Earlier this week, the New York Supreme Court issued an opinion finding that an insurer has a duty to defend and indemnify a national background screening company in two Fair Credit Reporting Act actions despite the policy’s exclusions of fines and penalties.   

In the two underlying actions at issue (Scott Ernst v. Dish Network, …

This month, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act celebrated its fifth anniversary.  Former Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd, co-authors of the Dodd-Frank Act, are pleased with the Act after five years, claiming that “the average American is much better off than before the rules were added,” because “subprime mortgages can’t …

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuits increased 16 percent from June 2014 to June 2015, according to a report issued by WebRecon.  The report also noted that FDCPA lawsuits increased from 885 to 1,129 from May to June this year.  According to the report, Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuits also increased 22.7 percent from…