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In December, a Utah-based bank and its service provider entered into an assurance of discontinuance with the Iowa Attorney General and the Iowa Division of Banking, settling an investigation into allegedly usurious installment loans that the bank made to Iowa consumers. The Iowa AG alleges that, between March 2020 and April 2022, the bank made more than 1,600 installment loans to Iowa residents that imposed excessive finance charges in violation of state and federal law. Some of these loans, according to the Iowa AG, carried interest rates of nearly 200 percent, far in excess of the maximum allowable finance charge of 21 percent under the Iowa Consumer Credit Code and the limits established by Section 521 of the federal Depository Institutions and Deregulation Monetary Control Act.…

Continue Reading Iowa AG Usury Investigation into Bank Partnership Ends in Settlement

On July 29, the CFPB and DOJ issued a joint letter to the auto lending and leasing industry reminding auto companies of their obligations under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The SCRA affords special protections to servicemembers and their dependents against unfair or predatory practices by auto lenders, including:
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Continue Reading Regulators Remind Auto Industry of Servicemember Protections

On July 27, CFPB Director Chopra was interviewed in multiple publications, here and here, about, among other topics, how the CFPB could seek to help mortgage borrowers strained by the Federal Reserve’s battle against inflation and how the agency is looking at cryptocurrency. Below are some of the more important updates from the interviews.
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Continue Reading CFPB’s Chopra Has Payments and Crypto In Focus

On May 24, CFPB announced the opening of the Office of Competition and Innovation, as part of its new approach to increase competition amongst consumer financial service companies by identifying barriers to entry for new market participants and making it easier for consumers to switch financial providers.  The new office will replace the Office of Innovation, which promoted a narrower, application-based approach by issuing No Action Letters and Sandboxes to individual companies on specific product offerings. …
Continue Reading CFPB Announces Opening of New Office of Competition and Innovation

This week, CFPB Director, Rohit Chopra, appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services in conjunction with the CFPB’s submission of its Semiannual Report to Congress.  In his prepared testimony before both committee, the Director highlighted some of the CFPB’s work over the past six months, which includes:…
Continue Reading CFPB Director Testifies Before Congress

On April 12, the CFPB filed a complaint against a credit reporting agency (CRA), two of its subsidiaries, and a former senior executive for violating a 2017 consent order issued to the company related to alleged deceptive marketing regarding its credit scores and other credit-related products.  The CFPB alleges that the CRA continued its unlawful behavior and employed deceitful digital “dark patterns” to profit from customers and also alleges violations of the CFPA, EFTA/ Regulation E, and the FCRA/Regulation V.  The order seeks a permanent injunction, damages, civil penalties, consumer refunds, restitution, disgorgement and the CFPB’s costs.
Continue Reading CFPB Sues Credit Reporting Agency and Former Senior Executive

State and federal crypto and NFT-related enforcement actions continue to occupy the regulatory landscape with an apparent uptick coinciding with the issuance of The White House’s Executive Order in March (we discussed the Biden Executive Order here). The following are some enforcement actions from state and federal regulators since the Executive Order.
Continue Reading Crypto Round-up: Executive Order Coincides with Uptick in Enforcement Actions

On March 9, President Biden signed a highly anticipated Executive Order outlining his administration’s cryptocurrency policy. We have previously blogged about the Biden administration’s working group on stablecoins and the Federal Reserve’s report on a potential U.S. central bank digital currency (“CBDC”).
Continue Reading Biden Administration Issues Executive Order on Cryptocurrencies

On February 4, the Department of the Treasury published a study on the facilitation of money laundering and terrorist financing through the art trade.  Among other considerations, the report discussed the risks of financial crimes in connection with NFTs.  (See a previous post on NFTs from our sister blog here and a recent podcast here).  The study found that the high-value art market has certain inherent qualities that make it potentially vulnerable to a range of financial crimes – as we noted above.  NFT purchasers, marketplaces, issuers, and other intermediaries in NFT transactions should be aware of the Treasury Departments’ interest in regulation and the potential for abuse through NFT transactions. This Treasury Department report is the latest in a series of studies and reports by federal regulatory agencies that aim to warn investors about the potential for abuse. …
Continue Reading Treasury’s Study Discusses Financial Crimes and NFTs