At yesterday’s joint FTC-CFPB roundtable on the debt collection industry, industry representatives advocated for a uniform, national standard for the documentation to be provided to debtors in the pre-litigation phase of the process. (Local court rules govern required documentation during litigation, making it unlikely that a national standard could be adopted for the litigation phase)…. More >
Category Archives: Hot Issues
Subscribe to Hot Issues RSS FeedDebt collection litigation: More documents or more face-to-face?
Posted in CFPB General, Debt Collection, Federal Agencies, FTC, Hot IssuesIndustry representatives and consumer advocates collectively lamented the high non-appearance rate of debtors in court in debt collection cases at yesterday’s joint FTC-CFPB roundtable on the debt collection industry. The non-appearance rate is around 90% according to most observers, as reported in the FTC’s report on debt collection litigation, Repairing A Broken System. To debt… More >
Does the FDCPA need to get with the times?
Posted in CFPB General, Debt Collection, Federal Agencies, FTC, Hot IssuesAt yesterday’s joint FTC-CFPB roundtable on the debt collection industry, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) was referenced together with the “1970s” a number of times. Commissioner Julie Brill, in an unscripted moment in her opening remarks, smiled at the thought that the FDCPA was enacted the same year she graduated from high school… More >
How the CFPB’s stance on ECOA in auto finance will raise consumer prices
Posted in CFPB Enforcement, Fair Lending, Hot Issues, Vehicle LoansEver since the CFPB’s release of its bulletin relating to disparate impact analysis of dealer rate participation last week, the press and consumer advocacy groups have been buzzing about the Bureau’s stance and its potential impact on the industry and consumers. Alan Kaplinsky and I previously blogged about the bulletin and its associated issues here, here… More >
The CFPB previews its coming auto finance fair lending enforcement actions
Posted in CFPB Enforcement, Fair Lending, Hot Issues, Vehicle LoansEarlier today, the CFPB released its guidance bulletin with respect to automobile indirect finance fair lending issues. The bulletin’s intent is unmistakably clear from the accompanying press release’s tag line: “CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU TO HOLD AUTO LENDERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATORY MARKUP.” The bulletin is, in my view, a prelude to the fair lending… More >
The Senate Republicans officially weigh in on Cordray’s nomination
Posted in CFPB General, CFPB People, CFPB Rulemaking, Hot IssuesWhatever hope President Obama may have had that his nomination of Richard Cordray to serve a five-year term as Director of the CFPB vanished today when 43 Republican Senators joined in a letter to the President saying that they will oppose Mr. Cordray or any other nominee until major structural changes are made to the… More >
NEWS FLASH: DC Circuit holds NLRB recess appointments invalid
Posted in CFPB People, Hot IssuesThe D.C. Circuit has just released its decision in Noel Canning v. NLRB, holding that the NLRB lacked a quorum to take action against the company. The Court of Appeals held, in a unanimous decision, that President Obama’s recess appointments to the NLRB were invalid because there was no “recess.” You can read the opinion… More >
CFPB proposes policy to allow trial disclosure programs
Posted in Hot Issues, Mobile Payments, TechnologyThe CFPB has issued a proposed policy under which it would exempt individual companies, on a case-by-case basis, from current federal disclosure requirements to allow those companies to test trial disclosures. The proposal, which is directed at “banks, thrifts, credit unions, and other financial services companies,” contemplates that participating companies would share test result data with… More >
Before presenting your idea . . .
Posted in CFPB General, Hot Issues, Mobile Payments, TechnologyI regularly work with technology innovators to help them get their ideas cleaned up for financial institutions and to give them a headstart in understanding the types of risk concerns and controls that financial institutions are going to have and want. To technology innovators who may be intrigued by the CFPB’s request for dialogue, I… More >
Waste not, want not
Posted in CFPB General, Hot Issues, Mobile Payments, TechnologyThe CFPB publicly acknowledged yesterday their interest in innovation in consumer financial services by launching Project Catalyst, as already reported in this blog. It is quite the departure from precedent for a banking regulator to actually express interest in being supportive of new technologies and how they could improve consumer financial services. For practitioners like… More >
ABA CFPB panel yields interesting comments
Posted in CFPB Enforcement, CFPB Exams, Debt Collection, Hot IssuesOn Friday, August 3, I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel at the ABA Annual Meeting with Meredith Fuchs, General Counsel of the CFPB, and Michael Gordon, Senior Counselor to the Director of the CFPB. Also on the panel were Mark Metz from Bank of America, Jean Noonan from Hudson Cook, and Reginald… More >
Mobile payments: CFPB suggests new regulations may be needed
Posted in Hot Issues, Mobile PaymentsWe frequently hear that regulations take a long time to catch up with the technology. On June 29, the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit held a hearing to determine whether regulations need to catch up to cover consumer payments made using mobile devices. According to written testimony submitted by the CFPB’s Marla… More >
Initial analyses of CFPB complaint data show misleading nature of data
Posted in CFPB General, Credit Cards, Hot IssuesRecall that when the CFPB launched the Consumer Complaint Database, its expressed hope that “the marketplace of ideas” – i.e., the public – would study and analyze the information disclosed in the database in order to “determine what the data show[s].” 77 FR 37559. The CFPB also stated that the purpose of the database is… More >
CFPB launches consumer complaint database
Posted in CFPB General, Credit Cards, Hot IssuesToday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launched its Consumer Complaint Database, which allows the public to view consumer complaints filed against credit card issuers. The Bureau also announced that it is submitting a request to the Federal Register seeking comments on extending the database to include other financial products in addition to credit cards –… More >
Reader of CFPB Monitor reports on April 13 Richard Cordray Q&A with SD community bankers and credit unions
Posted in CFPB General, Hot Issues, Mortgages, Payday LendingWe received an email from one of our readers, reporting on a recent meeting between CFPB Director Cordray and representatives of the South Dakota banking and credit union industries. We very much appreciate the report and encourage other readers to share their observations with us. Topics addressed in the meeting included the impact of consumer… More >
CFPB signals its intent to examine service providers to supervised institutions
Posted in CFPB Exams, Hot IssuesOn April 13, 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released Bulletin 2012-03, which stated that the CFPB will expand its examination scope beyond supervised institutions themselves and examine their service providers as well. If the CFPB believes that service providers are not complying with a consumer financial services law, or are committing a UDAAP… More >
CFPB now sharing consumer complaints with FTC database
Posted in Hot IssuesThe CFPB announced on March 14 that it has begun sharing consumer complaints with the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel database. In addition to the FTC, the database can be accessed by other federal agencies and hundreds of state and local agencies. Last August, the CFPB announced that it had entered into an agreement with the FTC… More >
The CFPB takes another stab at the privilege waiver issue
Posted in CFPB Rulemaking, Hot IssuesOne of the issues that we have discussed several times on this blog is the CFPB’s position with respect to privileged information it may request during examinations of supervised entities. As we have noted, the CFPB has taken the position that no waiver of the privilege has occurred when such information is provided, but its… More >
Let the games begin!
Posted in CFPB General, Hot Issues, Payday LendingThe payday loan industry is abuzz with the news that the CFPB has commenced its initial payday lender exam, operating in tandem with state examiners and providing virtually no advance warning. This news comes on top of a report that the CFPB has begun to examine non-bank mortgage companies. It should serve as yet another… More >
“Penalty box” redux
Posted in CFPB Rulemaking, Deposit Accounts, Hot IssuesOne of our favorite readers commented on the CFPB’s overdraft “penalty box,” which was the subject of a prior blog. Our reader criticizes the CFPB for creating the impression that the concept of an overdraft fee box is new. In fact, Reg DD currently requires a (shorter) box that lists the amount of overdraft and… More >
Cordray: teaming up with state AGs
Posted in CFPB Rulemaking, Hot Issues, MortgagesDirector Cordray attended a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General yesterday, delivering some prepared remarks and answering questions from the state AGs in attendance. Here are the highlights – statements that give us a clue about what the CFPB and the AGs will be joining forces to do in the near future: A… More >
CFPB overdraft fee initiative threatens to put banks in a penalty fee box
Posted in CFPB General, CFPB Rulemaking, Deposit Accounts, Hot IssuesLast week, Barbara Mishkin posted generally on the CFPB’s overdraft fee initiative. I found the CFPB’s prototype “penalty fee box” particularly interesting and have a few comments: While it is certainly possible that the CFPB will both require targeted disclosures and sharply circumscribe consumer choice, I take some hope from the penalty fee box disclosure that… More >
House and Senate Bills offer incomplete “fixes” to privilege waiver issue
Posted in CFPB General, Federal Agencies, Hot IssuesIn a recent blog on the Bacchus-Capito letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray, possible “legislative fixes” to the highly publicized privilege waiver issues involving the Bureau and possible amendments to 12 U.S.C. §§ 1821(t) and 1828(x) were discussed. The major shortcoming identified with regard to such amendments was the persistent problem of the Bureau’s sharing… More >
Recess appointments challenged in NLRB case in New York
Posted in Hot IssuesShortly after the President appointed Richard Cordray and several members of the NLRB through “recess” appointments, Alan Kaplinsky predicted on this blog that there would be litigation over the validity of the recess appointments first with regard to the NLRB, simply because it was likely to result in a “case or controversy” before anything involving… More >
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