Last week, the CFPB announced the appointment of new members to its advisory committees: Consumer Advisory Board (CAB), Community Bank Advisory Council (CBAC), Credit Union Advisory Council (CUAC), and Academic Research Council (ARC). In 2019, Director Kraninger announced a series of enhancements to the Bureau’s advisory committee charters, including: expanding the focus of the meetings to cover broad policy matters; increasing the frequency of in-person meetings from two times a year to three times a…

The CFPB  has taken a significant step towards issuing regulations to implement Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act by releasing an outline of the proposals it is considering in preparation for convening a small business review panel (Panel).  Section 1071 amended the ECOA to require financial institutions to collect and report certain data in connection with credit applications made by women- or minority-owned businesses and small businesses.  Such data includes the race, sex, and ethnicity…

Topics discussed include how the banking regulators and FinCEN will approach the decision whether to take enforcement action against a financial institution (including what BSA/AML program failures typically would (or would not) result in cease and desist orders), how the regulators’ statement differs from 2007 guidance, how the enforcement statements relate to recent updates to the BSA/AML examination manual, suggested practices for reducing compliance risk for  institutions and individuals, and the Presidential election’s potential impact…

As previously reported, unable to agree on long-term reforms for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), at the end of last year Congress extended the NFIP through September 30, 2020, which is the end of the current federal government fiscal year. With that date looming, in a letter to majority and minority leaders in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, industry trade groups urge that Congress further extend the NFIP. While the…

Almost five years after entering into an administrative consent order with Encore Capital Group, Inc., Midland Funding, LLC, Midland Credit Management, Inc., and Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. (collectively, “Defendants”) to resolve claims relating to the Defendants’ debt collection practices, the CFPB, on September 8, 2020, filed a five count complaint (the “Complaint”) in a California federal district court against the alleging that the Defendants’ collection and other practices violated the FDCPA, the CFPA,…

The two lawsuits filed in federal district court in California by state attorneys general challenging the OCC and FDIC “Madden fix” final rules will both be heard by Judge Jeffrey S. White.  Judge White was appointed to the federal bench in 2002 by President George W. Bush. When the lawsuits were filed, the lawsuit against the OCC was assigned to Judge White and the lawsuit against the FDIC was assigned to a different judge.  The…

Last week the CFPB and New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit against five debt collection companies and four individuals who own and manage the companies. The complaint alleges the defendants used deceptive, harassing, and otherwise improper methods to induce consumers to make payments to them in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The CFPB and Attorney General allege the defendants collected revenues from consumers…