Consumer Financial Services Watch – Page 23 – News and developments related to consumer financial services, litigation, and enforcement.

CFPB Releases its 2014 Fair Lending Report

May 05 2015

On April 28, the CFPB issued its third Fair Lending Report, highlighting fair lending developments from calendar year 2014. The CFPB reports that in 2014, its fair lending supervisory and public enforcement actions resulted in $224 million in remediation to approximately 303,000 consumers. The CFPB referred 15 matters to the Department of Justice in the areas of mortgage lending, auto finance, unsecured consumer lending and credit cards, and student lending. DOJ declined to open an independent investigation in five of those matters.

Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins: U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Whether Plaintiffs Have Standing to Assert a Statutory Violation without Alleging any Actual Harm

May 05 2015

By: Andrew C. Glass, Brian M. Forbes, Gregory N. Blase, Robert W. Sparkes, III, Roger L. Smerage, Eric W. Lee

The United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari to decide whether a statutory violation alone, unaccompanied by any actual harm to the plaintiff, is sufficient to establish Article III standing. See Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, No. 13-1339 (U.S. Apr. 27, 2015).

Five Steps To Data Breach Coverage For Card Issuer Liability

Apr 21 2015

By: Roberta D. Anderson

Target’s recent $19 million settlement with MasterCard underscores very significant sources of potential exposure that often follow a data breach incident. In the wake of any significant breach involving payment cards, such as the Target breach, retailers and other organizations that accept those cards are likely to face — in addition to a slew of claims from consumers and investors — claims from financial institutions seeking to recover their losses associated with issuing replacement credit and debit cards, among other losses.

Client of Blast Fax Solutions Provider Hit with $22 Million TCPA Judgment

Apr 14 2015

By: Joseph C. Wylie II, Molly K. McGinley, Nicole C. Mueller

A new decision once again highlights the dangers that companies face if their independent contractors engage in conduct that violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and highlights the need to monitor contractor compliance with the TCPA. In City Select Auto Sales, Inc. v. David/Randall Assocs., Inc., a federal court in New Jersey recently found a roofing company, David/Randall Associates, liable for $22.4 million under the TCPA for the actions of its blast fax solutions provider, Business to Business Solutions (B2B).

To read the full alert, click here.

U.S. Supreme Court Allows DOL Interpretation on Overtime for Mortgage Loan Officers

Mar 16 2015

By: Thomas H. Petrides, John L. Longstreth

On March 9, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) could issue a controversial “Administrator’s Interpretation,” which had concluded in 2010 that loan officers in the mortgage banking industry generally do not qualify as exempt from overtime under the administrative exemption of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Supreme Court reversed a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that had struck down the DOL administrative ruling. The Mortgage Bankers Association had challenged the 2010 Interpretation in court, arguing that because the DOL had previously issued an Opinion Letter in 2006 determining that loan officers could generally qualify as exempt from overtime under the administrative exemption, the DOL could not change its prior position without first issuing a written notice and allowing a comment period pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act. However, the Supreme Court in a 9-0 decision ruled that because the 2006 DOL Opinion Letter was itself merely an interpretation of an existing rule and not a new rule with the force and effect of law, DOL could reverse its prior position and issue a new interpretation without a prior notice and comment rulemaking.

CFPB Targets Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements in Consumer Financial Services Contracts in New Report to Congress

Mar 16 2015

By: Andrew C. Glass, Robert W. Sparkes, Roger L. Smerage

In the wake of the Great Recession, numerous federal government actors have sought to limit, and in some cases, eliminate, the inclusion of pre-dispute arbitration agreements in consumer financial services contracts. For instance, in 2010, as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), Congress amended the federal Truth-in-Lending Act to prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration provisions in residential mortgage contracts and home-equity line-of-credit agreements. See 15 U.S.C. § 1639c(e)(1). Now, acting pursuant to a mandate provided by the Dodd-Frank Act, see 12 U.S.C. § 5518(a), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) has joined the hunt. On March 9, 2015, the CFPB issued a report to Congress that appears to put the use of such agreements in all consumer financial services agreements – including credit card, checking account, and payday loan agreements – in the agency’s cross-hairs.

The Supreme Court to Consider Whether Spousal Loan Guarantors Are “Applicants” for Credit under ECOA

Mar 06 2015

By: Andrew C. Glass, Olivia Kelman

The United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari to decide whether the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) excludes loan guarantors from the definition of “applicants” entitled to bring suit under the Act. See Hawkins v. Community Bank of Raymore, No. 14-520 (U.S. Mar. 2, 2015). Specifically, the Court will decide whether the Federal Reserve Board exceeded its authority in its 2003 amendment to Regulation B, the regulation implementing ECOA, to purportedly bring guarantors within the ambit of ECOA’s protection. The Court’s decision may have far-reaching implications for lenders extending credit guaranteed by a non-borrower.

A Primer on Insurance Coverage Issues under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act

Mar 04 2015

By: Steven P. Wright, Gregory N. Blase, Samantha A. Miko

In the past several years, plaintiffs’ attorneys around the country have exploited a once-unknown 1991 law, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), to obtain headline-grabbing, multimillion-dollar judgments and settlements from some of the country’s largest financial services companies. Because financial services companies are often required to communicate with customers by telephone, these companies have attracted an undue amount of attention from the TCPA plaintiffs’ bar. Seemingly, each new day brings another lawsuit or settlement, and so, it is no surprise that the TCPA remains a hot topic in the financial services and related industries. In this alert, we explore current trends in insurance coverage claims attendant to TCPA class action claims.

To read the full alert, click here.

K&L Gates Congressional Meet & Greet – Congressman French Hill (R-AR-2)

Feb 26 2015

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.

New York DFS Clarifies New Debt Collection Regulations

Feb 23 2015

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.