UDAAP Round Up: 2014 Year in Review
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.