4 March 2015
8:30 a.m. ET
Congressional Meet & Greet
K&L Gates is pleased to invite you to our March 4th meet and greet breakfast with Congressman French Hill (R-AR-2).
Congressman Hill was elected in November 2014 to represent Arkansas’s 2nd Congressional District. The 2nd District includes White County, Van Buren County, Conway County, Perry County, Saline County, Faulkner County, and Pulaski County.
By: Steven M. Kaplan, Gregory N. Blase, Christopher E. Shelton
Responding to industry questions about New York’s new debt collection regulations, most of which take effect on March 3, 2015, the Department of Financial Services has published a detailed FAQ on its website. We previously analyzed the regulations in a client alert.
As we anticipated in our alert, the FAQ confirms that “debt servicers, including companies that service student loans, home equity loans or mortgages … who collect or attempt to collect a debt that was not in default at the time it was obtained for collection are not” subject to the regulations. This parallels how the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) is interpreted.
By: Phillip L. Schulman, Holly Spencer Bunting, Krista Cooley, Emily J. Booth-Dornfeld, Christa Bieker
Last fall the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) issued the first section of its new Single Family Housing Policy Handbook (“Single Family Handbook” or “Handbook”). The Single Family Handbook is designed to achieve a consolidated, authoritative source of single-family housing policy. In addition to consolidating all policy into a single document, the Handbook makes numerous substantive changes to Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”) requirements. The Handbook will be effective for FHA-insured loans with case numbers assigned on and after June 15, 2015. This client alert analyzes key changes introduced by the Handbook.
To read the full alert, click here.
By: Melanie Brody, Anjali Garg
On February 10, 2015, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the North Carolina Attorney General announced a settlement against two “buy here, pay here” used car dealerships and the companies’ presidents. The settlement resolves allegations under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, its implementing regulation (Regulation B), the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and the North Carolina Uniform Commercial Code, that the companies engaged in “reverse redlining” by allegedly targeting African American borrowers for used car loans using unfair and predatory terms.
By: Holly Spencer Bunting, Phillip L. Schulman
The love affair continues between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and enforcement under Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”). On February 10, 2015, the CFPB announced a consent order with NewDay Financial, LLC (“NewDay” or the “Company”) involving alleged violations of the referral fee prohibitions under Section 8 of RESPA and deceptive marketing practices. Specifically, the CFPB alleges that NewDay paid “lead generation” fees to an unnamed veterans’ organization and a third-party company for the endorsement of the Company and referral of the organization’s veteran members to NewDay for mortgage financing. While the Company neither admitted nor denied the CFPB’s findings, the CFPB assessed a $2 million civil money penalty under the consent order. The facts as described in the consent order do not involve a typical marketing services agreement or lead generation agreement, but the consent order makes clear that endorsements of a company expressed through direct mail and email advertisements are considered to be referrals by the CFPB.
To read the full alert, click here.
By: Soyong Cho, Stephanie C. Robinson, Anjali Garg, Christopher E. Shelton, Kathryn M. Baugher
In the last few years, the consumer financial services industry has increasingly faced the new darling tool of government enforcers — the prohibition of unfair or deceptive acts or practices (“UDAP”) found in Section 5 of the FTC Act and the prohibition of unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (“UDAAP”) found in Section 1031 of the Dodd-Frank Act. In 2014 alone, federal regulators resolved approximately 50 UDAP/UDAAP cases involving various forms of consumer financial services. These settlements resulted in over $2.5 billion in civil money penalties and consumer redress.
In this report, we provide a detailed view of the specific acts and practices that were challenged as unfair, deceptive, or abusive in 2014. We also include a summary of formal and informal UDAP/UDAAP guidance issued in the past year. Taken together, this compendium is a useful introduction for consumer financial services companies interested in evaluating and mitigating their UDAP/UDAAP risk.
To read the report, click here.
By: Brian M. Forbes, Laura P. Rich
A recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, McDermott v. Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks, P.C., may have broad implications for persons and entities involved in debt-collection activities in Massachusetts. In McDermott, the First Circuit addressed the scope of the Massachusetts consumer protection statute, M.G.L. c. 93A, § 11 (“Chapter 93A”) and its interplay with the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692, et seq. (“FDCPA”). While prior decisions from the First Circuit had suggested that a violation of the FDCPA may also be a per se (intrinsically or by itself) violation of Chapter 93A, the Court took a fresh look at the issue in McDermott and made clear that it is. Notably, the coupling of FDCPA claims with a state unfair and deceptive trade practices statute could provide plaintiff debtors with additional avenues of relief, including statutory damages and injunctive relief.
To read the full alert, click here.
Please join us for the first in a series of webinars focusing on the intersection of social media, law, and business. This program will include an in-depth discussion on issues companies face when removing unlawful content from social media sites.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. EST
Program will be 60 minutes followed by time for Q&A
The Consumer Financial Services Group is pleased to share our 2014 Highlights report. The report describes our firm’s achievements, and our practice group’s events, representative matters and publications.
Please click here to view the report.
Our global insurance coverage lawyers and a guest speaker from Willis Group will discuss insurance coverage for data breaches and other cyber risks and how businesses can maximize their insurance coverage.
This is the third and final complimentary webinar in this series.
Wednesday 25 February 2015
Webinar Schedule: Log-in opens: 16:15 GMT; 11:15 EST; 8:15 PST
Program: 16:30 – 17:30 GMT; 11:30 – 12:30 EST; 8:30 – 9:30 PST
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