Consumer Finance Monitor

CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General

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Hilary Adams

Richard J. Andreano, Jr.

Justin Angelo

Wendy Angus-Anderson

Latest from Consumer Finance Monitor

Consumer Finance Monitor

Democratic lawmakers press Kraninger and DeVos for new CFPB/ED MOU

By Barbara S. Mishkin on July 22, 2019

Two Democratic Senators have sent a letter to CFPB Director Kraninger and Education Secretary DeVos asking the regulators to explain what roadblocks are preventing the CFPB and ED from entering into a new memorandum of understanding to replace the MOU between the agencies that the ED terminated in 2017. In their letter, the Senators indicated that the agencies have disagreed about the reason for the MOU’s termination and have provided conflicting information to Congress regarding…

Consumer Finance Monitor

SSN identity verification tool being developed; initial enrollment deadline of July 31

By Kim Phan on July 22, 2019

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced the development of a portal that would allow financial institutions to join a planned real-time electronic system for verifying the identity of credit applicants. The new Consent Based Social Security Number (SSN) Verification (eCBSV) service will be an important tool in the fight against identity theft and other financial crimes. SSA has traditionally been resistant to the idea that SSNs should serve as the nation’s universal personal identifier. However,…

Consumer Finance Monitor

NY legislature passes bills to extend coverage of plain language law and prohibit use of social network information for evaluating creditworthiness

By Alan S. Kaplinsky on July 22, 2019

Two bills relevant to consumer finance have been passed by the New York Assembly and Senate and are awaiting Governor Cuomo’s signature. The first bill, S3704, would amend New York’s plain language requirement to extend its application to consumer contracts involving up to $250,000. The requirement currently does not apply to consumer contracts involving more than $100,000. The law covers residential leases, leases of personal property to be used primarily for personal, family or…

Consumer Finance Monitor

CFPB issues report on tradeline reporting by third-party debt collectors

By John L. Culhane, Jr. on July 22, 2019

The CFPB has issued a new report on tradelines reported by third-party debt collectors as reflected on credit reports compiled by nationwide consumer reporting agencies. The third-party collector tradelines consist of those reported by debt buyers and those reported by non-buyers (i.e. where the debt is still owned by the original creditor). A single debt collections firm may collect on both debts it owns and debts that others own. The report is based on information…

Consumer Finance Monitor

CFPB issues update to 2016 advisory on elder financial abuse

By John L. Culhane, Jr. on July 18, 2019

The CFPB has issued an update to its 2016 advisory that contained recommendations for banks and credit unions on how to prevent, recognize, report, and respond to financial exploitation of older Americans. The 2016 advisory’s recommendations addressed six categories, one of which was the reporting of suspected elder financial exploitation (EFE) to relevant federal, state, and local authorities. This category is the focus of the update, which “reiterates key recommendations regarding reporting from the [2016…

Consumer Finance Monitor

Draft Legislation Seeks to “Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance”

By James Kim on July 18, 2019

On July 15, the Democratic majority of the House Financial Services Committee introduced draft legislation, titled “Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance Act,” targeting Libra, Facebook’s contemplated new digital currency. As a follow up, during her July 17 opening statement before testimony from a Facebook executive, Chairwoman Maxine Waters expressed serious concerns about Libra and asked Facebook to put it on hold. The draft bill would prohibit large technology companies that “predominately engage[] in…

Consumer Finance Monitor

Court Enjoins HUD Attempt to Impose New Down Payment Assistance Requirements

By Richard J. Andreano, Jr. on July 18, 2019

As previously reported, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued Mortgagee Letter 2019-06 in April of 2019 to impose new documentation requirements for down payment assistance provided by government entities to be used in connection with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured loans. CBC Mortgage Agency, which is an instrumentality of the Cedar Band of Paiutes Indian American tribe, operates the Chenoa Fund down payment assistance program. The Agency challenged HUD’s action in the…

Consumer Finance Monitor

This week’s podcast: A discussion of credit reporting issues arising from the CFPB’s proposed debt collection rules

By Barbara S. Mishkin on July 18, 2019

In this podcast, we discuss the CFPB’s proposed requirement for a collector to communicate with a debtor before furnishing information about the debt to a consumer reporting agency and proposed prohibition on selling or transferring a debt that is the subject of an identity theft report. We also look at the challenges collectors would face in complying with both the proposed FDCPA dispute rules and the current FCRA dispute process and the proposal’s implications for…

Consumer Finance Monitor

House Financial Services Committee passes more credit reporting bills

By John L. Culhane, Jr. on July 18, 2019

Three more bills dealing with credit reporting were passed on Tuesday by the House Financial Services Committee. Like the four bills passed by the Committee last week, none of the bills passed yesterday received any Republican votes. The bills, which are listed below, would make various amendments to the FCRA, including those described below: The “Student Borrower Credit Improvement Act.” The bill would prohibit a consumer reporting agency (CRA) from providing a consumer…

Consumer Finance Monitor

Ballard Spahr creates cross-disciplinary fintech team

By Barbara S. Mishkin on July 17, 2019

As readers of our blog know, our consumer financial services group has been at the forefront of legal developments involving new technologies. To align with the work that we’ve been doing in the financial technology space and to even better serve our clients in meeting the legal challenges in this rapidly developing landscape, Ballard Spahr has created a cross-disciplinary Fintech team that brings together the firm’s consumer financial services attorneys with lawyers focused on privacy…

Consumer Finance Monitor

CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General

Blog Authors

Democratic lawmakers press Kraninger and DeVos for new CFPB/ED MOU

SSN identity verification tool being developed; initial enrollment deadline of July 31

NY legislature passes bills to extend coverage of plain language law and prohibit use of social network information for evaluating creditworthiness

CFPB issues report on tradeline reporting by third-party debt collectors

CFPB issues update to 2016 advisory on elder financial abuse

Draft Legislation Seeks to “Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance”

Court Enjoins HUD Attempt to Impose New Down Payment Assistance Requirements

This week’s podcast: A discussion of credit reporting issues arising from the CFPB’s proposed debt collection rules

House Financial Services Committee passes more credit reporting bills

Ballard Spahr creates cross-disciplinary fintech team

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