10 May 2016 – Consumer Financial Services Watch

The New Jersey Truth-In-Consumer Contract Warranty and Notice Act: What You Need to Know About “TCCWNA” and the Rise in Consumer Class Actions

May 10 2016

Businesses with consumer products should be aware of the rise in class action filings based on the New Jersey Truth-In-Consumer Contract Warranty and Notice Act (“TCCWNA”). Although the statute has been in place since 1981, it was relatively dormant for decades and only recently became a favorite of plaintiffs’ attorneys. In the past five months, more than a dozen putative class actions have been filed based on alleged TCCWNA violations in the District of New Jersey alone. [1] This alert provides an overview of key points of which businesses should be aware.

To read the full alert, click here.

More To Know About “Know Before You Owe”: CFPB Acknowledges TRID Challenges and Announces July 2016 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

May 10 2016

By Jennifer Janeira Nagle and Hollee Watson

The TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule (“TRID”) went into effect on October 3, 2015, and has posed significant implementation challenges industry-wide. Those challenges have been articulated to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) by industry participants, trade groups, and congressional leaders alike. In response, the CFPB has issued guidance in the form of letters, webinars, educational videos, guides, and factsheets. Notwithstanding this informal guidance, and despite the CFPB’s assurances that its initial compliance examinations would be “diagnostic and corrective, not punitive,” see December 29, 2015 Letter from CFPB Director Richard Cordray to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the mortgage industry continues to experience uncertainty and risk in its efforts to implement TRID’s sweeping changes to TILA and RESPA. See January 29, 2016 Mortgage Industry Trade Group Letter to CFPB; March 11, 2016 Sen. Bob Corker Letter to CFPB.

In the wake of pressure for more formal guidance, the CFPB recently announced that it will issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) on TRID in late July. In an April 28, 2016 letter to mortgage industry trade groups, Director Richard Cordray acknowledged that “the implementation of the Know Before You Owe rule poses many operational challenges” and that “there are places in the regulation text and commentary where adjustments would be useful for greater certainty and clarity.”

Archive:10 May 2016