On Tuesday, September 15, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a settlement with Dunkin’ Brands Inc. regarding a lawsuit in New York state court titled The People of The State of New York et al. v. Dunkin’ Brands Inc., case number 451787/2019. The case was filed in September 2019 by the New York

On September 15, 2020, after considerable delay and pursuant to a court settlement, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its Outline of Proposals Under Consideration and Alternatives Considered for small business lending data collection rulemaking. When the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) was passed, Section 1071 amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to require such small business data collection. Dodd-Frank requires the CFPB to comply with The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) of 1996, which provided new avenues for small businesses to participate in the federal regulatory arena and created Small Business Advocacy Review panels (SBAR panels, also known as SBREFA panels).

Section 1071 states that “in the case of any application to a financial institution for credit for women-owned, minority-owned, or small business, the financial institution shall – (1) inquire whether the business is a women-owned, minority-owned, or small business, without regard to whether such application is received in person, by mail, by telephone, by electronic mail or other form of electronic transmission, or by any other means, and whether or not such application is in response to a solicitation by the financial institution…” The purpose of Section 1071 was to facilitate the enforcement of fair lending laws. The CFPB is beginning the process of writing regulations to implement Section 1071.

The CFPB’s Outline describes the various proposals that are being considered to implement Section 1071, the relevant law, the regulatory process, and an economic analysis of the potential impacts on small entities that will be directly impacted.

In late August, the California legislature passed Assembly Bill 1864, creating a Department of Financial Protection and Innovation and bolstering legal protections for consumers.

The new Department is intended to be a state-level version of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

For example, similar to the CFPB, the commissioner of the Department is authorized

August 19, 2020
2:00-3:00 P.M. (ET)

Enforcement of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) began July 1, 2020. Our privacy team at Troutman Pepper has identified six areas of enforcement likely to catch the California Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) attention, which arguably holds sole enforcement authority under the Act. This webinar will focus

Earlier this month, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey led a group of twenty-three attorneys general in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education (the “Department”) and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos (the “Secretary”). According to a news release from the California Attorney General’s Office, the lawsuit, filed in

On July 13, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a study, entitled “Targeting Credit Builder Loans: Insights from a Credit Builder Loan Evaluation” and an accompanying practitioner’s guide – ultimately concluding that a credit builder loan (“CBL”) could increase the likelihood of establishing a credit record for consumers without one, and could help

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) held its public workshop on the proposed changes to the Safeguards Rule under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (“GLBA”). The FTC has not updated the Safeguards Rule since implementing it in 2003. With substantial developments in the way businesses increasingly depend and operate using non-public personal information through electronic means

The CFPB recently published a blog post about the agency’s on-going efforts to monitor industry updates and innovation and how these changes align with regulatory obligations under the CFPB’s consumer protection laws. This post specifically highlighted using artificial intelligence (AI) and/or machine learning (ML) related to the adverse action notices that are required under the

On July 28, 2020, Troutman Pepper attorneys, Maryia Jones (Virginia Beach office) and Stephen J. Steinlight (New York – East Side office) will serve again on the faculty for their webinar series by Lorman Educational Services entitled, “Collection Disputes: A Good Defense Is the Best Offense.

The credit and collection industry remain under

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) is holding its public workshop today on the proposed changes to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999’s Safeguards Rule (“Safeguards Rule”). For background, the Safeguards Rule requires financial institutions, and potentially affiliates and/or service providers, to keep customer information secure. The FTC has stated it seeks to modify the Safeguards Rule