On November 15, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas overseeing the ongoing legal challenge to the CFPB’s Section 1071 small business lending rule (previously discussed here, here, here, and here), issued an order denying the plaintiff trade groups’ motion to toll the deadlines of the rule while an appeal moves through the Fifth Circuit.
Continue Reading Federal Court Denies Request to Delay CFPB’s Small Business Lending Rule as Compliance Deadlines Approach
On November 1, a debt collection trade group filed a complaint in federal court challenging an October 1 CFPB advisory opinion that warned debt collectors against seeking payment on unverified or potentially inflated medical bills (we previously discussed the advisory opinion here).
Continue Reading Debt Collectors Push Back: Trade Group Sues CFPB Over New Medical Debt Collection Rules
On August 26, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued a decision upholding the legality of the CFPB Small Business Lending Rule (the “Rule”) (designed to implement section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act) in a lawsuit filed by plaintiff trade associations challenging the CFPB’s authority in promulgating the Rule (previously discussed here and here).
Continue Reading Federal Court Upholds CFPB’s Small Business Lending Rule
On August 12, the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), a prominent consumer advocacy group, petitioned the CFPB to open rulemaking under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to expand the definition of “credit” to include housing and apartment rental leases, and “creditors” to include landlords. While acknowledging that landlords are already banned from discriminating against prospective tenants under the federal Fair Housing Act, the petition aims to secure two additional protections.
Continue Reading Advocacy Group Petitions CFPB to Categorize Housing Rental Leases as “Credit”
On June 25, the CFPB issued its annual fair lending report covering its fair lending activity in 2023. The Bureau noted that in 2023 it undertook 28 fair lending examinations and announced four enforcement actions. It separately referred 18 matters to the Department of Justice.
Continue Reading Key Takeaways from the CFPB’s 2023 Fair Lending Report
On May 16, the United States Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling, held that the CFPB’s funding mechanism does not violate the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution. As we previously discussed in greater detail here, under the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress provided a standing source of funding for the CFPB outside the ordinary annual appropriations process—the Bureau draws from the Federal Reserve System an amount determined by its Director, subject only to an inflation-adjusted cap. Plaintiffs had argued the structure violated the Appropriation’s Clause as it did not go through an annual appropriations process and was effectively “double insulated” from congressional oversight.
Continue Reading CFPB Wins at the Supreme Court
On April 9, 2024, seven states filed suit against the Biden administration in an attempt to block its new “SAVE” plan, an income-driven repayment plan that leads to eventual loan forgiveness. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Continue Reading States Sue the Biden Administration to Stop Loan Relief Plan
In a significant ruling on March 19, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that the CFPB can proceed with its lawsuit against a group of Delaware student loan trusts rejecting their claims that they are just passive financing entities outside the reach of the Bureau’s authority.
Continue Reading Third Circuit Ruling Gives CFPB Green Light to Enforce Against Student Loan Trusts
On December 19, President Biden vetoed the joint resolution (S. J. Res. 32) the US Senate and House of Representatives passed under the Congressional Review Act that would have repealed the CFPB’s small business data collection rule (Rule) known as “Small Business Lending Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B)” (we blogged about the rule and congressional challenge here and here).
Continue Reading President Biden Vetoes Congressional Review Act Disapproval of CFPB’s Small Business Lending Data Collection Rule
On October 26, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction barring the CFPB from moving forward with implementing or enforcing the recently finalized Small Business Lending Rule, designed to implement Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The injunction will likely remain in effect pending either the outcome of a trial on the underlying merits of the case or the Supreme Court’s reversal of Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd. v. CFPB. The Southern District of Texas previously issued a similar injunction in July in the same case, however, the original injunction applied only to the parties to the case (see previous blog post here).
Continue Reading Federal Court Issues Nationwide Injunction of CFPB’s Small Business Lending Rule