CFPB Continues Its Enforcement In Less Than Traditional Areas of Consumer Protection; This Time it is Remittances The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on Tuesday, August 27, 2019 a consent order entered into with Maxitransfers Corp., a Texas-based money transmitter, following its investigation of Maxitransfers’ compliance with the Remittance Rule’s regulations concerning transmission error-resolution policies and consumer disclosures. The Remittance Rule was promulgated pursuant to The Dodd Frank Act and implements requirements of…

New Jersey Appellate Division Curtails Prior Holdings Exempting “Semi-Professionals” from the Consumer Fraud Act In a recent published decision, Shaw v. Shand,1 the New Jersey Appellate Division held that licensed semi-professionals are not “learned professionals” exempt from liability under the Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA”)2 simply because they are subject to an independent statutory or regulatory scheme.  Shaw was an appeal from a trial court decision entering summary judgment on the plaintiffs’ CFA claims in favor…

Third Circuit Holds that Inclusion of “Quick Response” Codes on Envelope Violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act In a precedential opinion, DiNaples v. MRS BPO, LLC, the Third Circuit held that adding an unencrypted “quick response” or “QR” code to an envelope containing a debt collection letter violates 15 U.S.C. § 1692f(8) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”).i That section limits what collection agencies can include on envelopes, prohibiting “language or symbols”…

Third Circuit Holds that Inclusion of “Quick Response” Codes on Envelope Violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act In a precedential opinion, DiNaples v. MRS BPO, LLC, the Third Circuit held that adding an unencrypted “quick response” or “QR” code to an envelope containing a debt collection letter violates 15 U.S.C. § 1692f(8) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”).i That section limits what collection agencies can include on envelopes, prohibiting “language or symbols”…

New York Department of Financial Services’ Title Insurance Regulation Vacated, Again? On to the Court of Appeals On August 5, 2019 a New York state court, on remand from the Appellate Division, again determined that Section 228.2(c) of the New York Department of Financial Services’ (DFS) Title Insurance Regulation was unconstitutionally vague and thus could possibility be applied arbitrarily and capriciously. Section 228.2(c) requires that title insurance underwriters and agencies making political or charitable donations…

New York Bill Targeting Robocalls Could Significantly Increase Exposure for Financial Services Companies A New York law aimed at curbing robocalls could significantly increase risk for companies relying on auto-dialers or prerecorded calls to contact customers. The “Robocall Prevention Act” would ban calls and text messages using equipment from numbers stored on a list, or equipment that uses random or sequential number generators, unless the caller shows that “substantial additional human intervention” to…

In Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Seila Law LLC, 2019 WL 1985350 (9th Cir. May 6, 2019), the Ninth Circuit followed the earlier decision of the D.C. Circuit in PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 881 F.3d 75 (D.C. Cir. 2018) (en banc), in holding that the single-director structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is constitutional. The constitutional challenge was raised by a law firm, Seila Law LLC, that provided debt…