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On January 18, acting CFPB General Counsel Seth Frotman sent a letter to three representatives of consumer advocacy groups addressing the CFPB’s November 2020 advisory opinion on earned wage access (EWA) products.  The letter responded to concerns that the advisory opinion was being used as justification by the proponents of a pending New Jersey law that would allow third-party EWA providers to charge fees or permit “tips” for their products without having to abide by the state’s 30% usury cap. Continue Reading CFPB Addresses “Confusion” Over Earned Wage Access Program

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On June 9, 2025, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released a report urging City and State leaders to modernize consumer financial protections. The report outlines a series of legislative and regulatory recommendations aimed at closing gaps in existing protections and addressing emerging risks in the consumer financial marketplace.

Continue Reading NYC Comptroller Report Calls for Overhaul of State Consumer Financial Protections
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On May 12, the CFPB formally withdrew nearly 70 guidance materials—including policy statements, advisory opinions, circulars, and interpretive rules—through a Federal Register notice issued by Acting Director Russell Vought. The move stems from an internal memo circulated last month to identify guidance that allegedly imposed unlawful compliance burdens or exceeded statutory authority.

Continue Reading CFPB Withdraws Dozens of Guidance Documents as Part of Deregulatory Push
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Starting in February 2025, providers of (1) debt settlement services, (2) student debt relief services, (3) private postsecondary education financing, and (4) income-based advances (a/k/a earned wage access (EWA) products) must begin registering and conform to annual reporting requirements in order to operate in California. We previously discussed this rule here.

Continue Reading California DFPI Poised to Fill Potential Regulatory Gap Amid Anticipated CFPB Leadership Shift
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On October 22, the California DFPI announced the state’s approval of registration regulations enacted under the CCFPL, which will require providers of (1) debt settlement services, (2) education financing, (3) income-based advances (including earned wage access products), and (4) student debt relief services to register with the state and comply with data submission requirements. Financial service providers covered by the new regulations must file an application to register by February 15, 2025, to continue operating legally in the state.

Continue Reading California DFPI Rolls Out Registration Requirements for Debt Settlement, EWA, and Student Loan Relief Providers
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On August 13, the CFPB announced an advisory opinion on the applicability of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Regulation Z to “contracts for deed.” A contract for deed is an arrangement in which a consumer purchases a home from a seller subject to the purchaser paying for the home over time. The purchaser moves into the home and assumes responsibility for taxes, insurance, home maintenance and repairs, but does not take title to the home until all payments due are made to the seller. The arrangement is also known by other names, such as “land sales contract,” “land installment contract,” and “agreement for deed.” The arrangement is very similar in many respects to an installment sales contract for the purchase of goods. 

Continue Reading CFPB Announces Advisory Opinion on Applicability of TILA and Regulation Z To Contracts for Deed
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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”
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In June, the Nevada governor signed SB 290 into law, making Nevada the first state to enact legislation creating a comprehensive statutory framework that specifically defines and regulates the provision of earned wage access (EWA) products. EWA products allow consumers to access their earned wages before their regularly scheduled pay date. While other states and federal agencies have made preliminary efforts to regulate EWA products, Nevada is the first state to impose certain substantive requirements on providers of EWA products, such as implementation of policies for responding to consumer complaints and mandatory disclosure to consumers of their rights, such rights including the ability to cancel EWA agreements at any time without being charged fees.

Continue Reading Nevada EWA Legislation Creates Novel Regulatory Framework
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On December 18, the Arizona Attorney General issued an opinion on earned wage access (EWA), which determined that fully non-recourse EWA products do not constitute consumer loans subject to consumer loan regulations, and correspondingly, that providers of non-recourse EWA products would not be considered consumer lenders subject to licensure under Arizona law. The opinion found that an EWA product could be identified as fully non-recourse when the provider:

Continue Reading AZ Attorney General Concludes Non-Recourse EWA Not a Loan

On June 30, the CFPB issued an order terminating an EWA provider’s Sandbox Approval Order relating to its earned wage access products. In December 2020, the CFPB provided the company special regulatory treatment, including a temporary safe harbor from liability under TILA/Reg. Z because, in part, the EWA program did not involve the offering or extension of “credit” as defined by Reg. Z. In its press release, the CFPB note that the “temporary safe harbor is for offering and providing certain earned wage access products, subject to good faith compliance with the terms of the approval order.”

Continue Reading CFPB Rescinds Special Regulatory Treatment for EWA Company