On April 6, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a consent order against California-based debt collector Yorba Capital Management LLC and its sole owner Daniel Portilla, Jr. for violating the Consumer Financial Protection Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The consent order permanently bans Yorba and Portilla from the debt collection business
Beam Financial, Inc. (Beam), a mobile banking app, will be banned from offering any service that may be used to deposit, store, or withdraw funds, and must give a full refund to users as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It also is prohibited from misrepresenting the interest rates, restrictions, and
In early March, New York State Attorney General Letitia James and New York City Corporation Counsel John E. Johnson announced a $105 million settlement against a hedge fund manager for tax evasion. The New York authorities were alerted to the potential of fraud in October 2018 by a whistleblower lawsuit brought under New York’s False
Five federal banking regulatory agencies are gathering information and comments on financial institutions’ use of artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning. On March 29, the Federal Reserve Board, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a request
On March 22, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) moved to dismiss a challenge to a final rule it promulgated last summer. But this routine filing was followed by a blog that expressed the Bureau’s intent to address the challenged rule outside of court and clarified that its “brief address[es] only the court’s jurisdiction to
While the debate continues about whether the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the authority to make rules governing antitrust or competition law issues, on March 25, Acting FTC Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter announced the creation of a new group focused, in part, on new rules to prohibit unfair or deceptive practices and unfair methods of
On March 25, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) released an article reflecting on its work in 2020. The following are some of the most notable actions of the FTC in 2020:
On March 22, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Lina Khan to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Khan is an outspoken critic of big tech and a former legal advisor to FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra, Biden’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Khan’s anticipated nomination again
On March 3, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a complaint in the Northern District of Illinois against a third-party payment processor, BrightSpeed Solutions, Inc., and its founder and former CEO Kevin Howard. The CFPB’s complaint alleges that the defendants violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) and the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and
On March 18, Opportunity Financial, Inc. (OppFi) — a Chicago-based platform lender — announced that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is investigating its compliance with the Military Lending Act. The announcement — coupled with several others like it in recent months — confirms that the CFPB is closely monitoring fintechs.
OppFi is a consumer