Christopher J. Willis

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New York Department of Financial Services opens investigation into Facebook advertisers

By Christopher J. Willis on July 8, 2019

Only a few months have passed since the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development filed a charge of discrimination against Facebook, alleging that the ad-targeting techniques used to determine which users would see advertising related to housing and housing-related service (like mortgage loans) were based on protected characteristics and “close proxies” for those characteristics, violating the Fair Housing Act. Now, the New York Department of Financial Services has opened a similar investigation,…

Consumer Finance Monitor

The CFPB’s latest meaningful attorney involvement lawsuit sends some strange messages

By Christopher J. Willis on May 20, 2019

Last Friday, the CFPB announced that it had filed yet another meaningful attorney involvement lawsuit against a debt collection law firm – Forster & Garbus, P.C. It’s notable enough that the Bureau continues to pursue these cases (even while proposing a “safe harbor” for meaningful attorney involvement in its proposed debt collection rules), but there are a number of very notable – and troubling – things about this particular case. The primary thrust of the…

Consumer Finance Monitor

Meaningful attorney involvement: the CFPB’s proposed “safe harbor” standard

By Christopher J. Willis on May 15, 2019

As part of our continuing discussion of the CFPB’s proposed debt collection rules, we focus in this blog post on a provision that occupies very little real estate in the proposal, but could have tremendous significance: a new “safe harbor” provision relating to meaningful attorney involvement by debt collection law firms, contained in section 1006.18(g) of the proposed rules. Now, you have seen the concept of meaningful attorney involvement play a prominent role in CFPB…

Consumer Finance Monitor

Why creditors and servicers should care about the CFPB’s proposed debt collection rules

By Christopher J. Willis & Stefanie Jackman on May 13, 2019

The Bureau’s proposed debt collection rules, released last week, only apply to debt collectors, as defined under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. So, why should creditors and servicers be interested in them? Lots of reasons. First, a number of provisions call for creditors (or by extension, servicers) to take action before a debt is assigned to a collection agency in order to facilitate the collection agency’s use of electronic communications with the consumer. …

Consumer Finance Monitor

CFPB publishes debt collection proposed rule; Ballard Spahr to hold May 14 webinar

By Heather S. Klein, Stefanie Jackman, Christopher J. Willis & John L. Culhane, Jr. on May 7, 2019

The CFPB has published its long-awaited notice of proposed rulemaking under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The proposed rule would apply only to debt collectors covered by the FDCPA, although creditors and servicers acquiring debts before default will feel its impact as well. On May 14, 2019, from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET, Ballard Spahr attorneys will hold a webinar, “The CFPB’s New Proposed Debt Collection Rule.” The webinar registration form is …

Consumer Finance Monitor

HUD files FHA action against Facebook alleging discriminatory advertising practices

By Christopher J. Willis & Scott M. Pearson on March 29, 2019

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a “Charge of Discrimination” against Facebook that charges the company “with engaging in discriminatory housing practices in violation of the [provisions of the Fair Housing Act that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin or disability.]” HUD’s Charge (which initiates an administrative enforcement proceeding) alleges that Facebook designed its advertising platform in a way that shows advertisements for housing…

Consumer Finance Monitor

CFPB Supervisory Highlights looks at auto loan ancillary product refunds

By Christopher J. Willis on March 13, 2019

Yesterday, the CFPB released the Winter 2019 edition of its Supervisory Highlights. The report discusses the Bureau’s examination findings in the areas of automobile loan servicing, deposits, mortgage loan servicing, and remittances. In this blog post, we focus on the Bureau’s findings relating to auto loan servicing. (We will discuss the Bureau’s other findings in a separate blog post.) The auto loan servicing findings include a discussion of interest to auto finance companies, based on…

Consumer Finance Monitor

The CFPB’s proposed “abusive” rulemaking: much ado about nothing?

By Christopher J. Willis on October 18, 2018

In its blog post announcing the Fall 2018 Rulemaking Agenda, the CFPB announced that it is “considering how rulemaking may be helpful to further clarify the meaning of ‘abusiveness’ under the section 1031 of the Dodd-Frank Act.” This statement follows press reports of Acting Director Mulvaney commenting about the possibility of a rulemaking to define the meaning of “abusiveness” under Dodd-Frank, to bring clarity to this aspect of the Bureau’s authority. Professor Adam Levitin…

Consumer Finance Monitor

CFPB hints at possible disparate impact rulemaking

By Christopher J. Willis on October 18, 2018

On October 17, the Bureau released its Fall 2018 Rulemaking Agenda, but it included a surprise for those interested in fair lending. Under the section of the associated blog post entitled “Future Planning” appears the following statement: “The Bureau is considering future [rulemaking] activity with regard to specific areas of consumer financial law of significant public interest. For example, the Bureau announced in May 2018 that it is reexamining the requirements of the Equal…

Consumer Finance Monitor

ECOA and Small Business Lending: Where Are We?

By Christopher J. Willis on September 28, 2018

During Richard Cordray’s tenure as CFPB director, it began to look like we were heading toward an era of much more aggressive application of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to small business lending. The biggest potential development was the anticipated small-business lending data collection rule, which would have imposed HMDA-like reporting requirements for small business lending, which in turn would have generated the statistical information that could have been used in fair lending examinations and…

Christopher J. Willis

New York Department of Financial Services opens investigation into Facebook advertisers

The CFPB’s latest meaningful attorney involvement lawsuit sends some strange messages

Meaningful attorney involvement: the CFPB’s proposed “safe harbor” standard

Why creditors and servicers should care about the CFPB’s proposed debt collection rules

CFPB publishes debt collection proposed rule; Ballard Spahr to hold May 14 webinar

HUD files FHA action against Facebook alleging discriminatory advertising practices

CFPB Supervisory Highlights looks at auto loan ancillary product refunds

The CFPB’s proposed “abusive” rulemaking: much ado about nothing?

CFPB hints at possible disparate impact rulemaking

ECOA and Small Business Lending: Where Are We?

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