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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

On January 27, the CFPB released a report directed to consumers about obtaining information in their consumer reports and disputing suspected inaccuracies in these reports with companies as needed.  The CFPB notes that “[a]s families recover from the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking new jobs or places to live, errors in these databases can severely harm their financial lives.”…
Continue Reading CFPB Provides Guidance on How Consumers Can Obtain and Dispute Inaccuracies in Credit Reports

On January 5, the CFPB released its Annual Report of Credit and Consumer Reporting Complaints that analyzes complaint responses by the three major consumer reporting agencies (CRAs).  The CFPB’s analysis reveals that recent changes in complaint responses provided by the CRAs resulted in fewer meaningful responses and with fewer instances of relief to consumers.  As a result, the CFPB concludes that the CRAs failed to meet their obligations under Section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which requires that CRAs review consumer allegations of incomplete or inaccurate information on consumer credit reports, including allegations made by an authorized third-party representative of the consumer.
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Continue Reading CFPB Report: Major Credit Bureaus Failed to Meet Statutory Obligations in Response to Consumer Complaints