Our webinar yesterday, “Consumer Financial Regulatory and Litigation Fallout from the COVID-19 Crisis,” in which we were joined by special guest speakers Richard Cordray, former CFPB Director, and John Roddy, Partner at Bailey & Glasser and prominent plaintiffs’ class action lawyer, highlighted the regulatory and litigation risks the crisis is expected to create for members of the consumer financial services industry.  Chris Willis, Practice Leader of Consumer Financial Services Litigation at Ballard Spahr, also participated…

Last week, in Ricco v. Sentry Credit, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act does not require a written dispute to avoid an assumption by the debt collector that the debt is valid.  Declining the opportunity to be “the ‘legal last-man-standing’ among the courts of appeals,” the en banc decision ended a circuit split by overturning the contrary 1991 ruling of a Third…

The CFPB announced that it has entered into a settlement with Cottonwood Financial, Ltd., to resolve alleged violations by Cottonwood of the CFPA, FCRA, and TILA  in the course of marketing, servicing, and collecting on payday, auto title, and unsecured consumer installment loans.  Cottonwood operates approximately 340 retail lending outlets in Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin under the name Cash Store.  The consent order requires Cottonwood to pay a civil money…

The SBA’s initial Interim Final Rule addressing the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), released on April 2, and its revised Borrower Application Form and Lender Application Form for a PPP Loan Guaranty, released the same day, marked huge steps forward in moving the PPP towards launch. In particular, the Lender Application Form eliminated excessive lender burdens and potential pitfalls reflected in an earlier draft of the Application that had circulated through the lender…