On February 6, 2025, the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois declined to issue a preliminary injunction to stop an Illinois “swipe fee” law that would ban certain credit and debit card fees from applying to credit unions while extending a previous preliminary injunction to apply to out-of-state banks. (See our previous coverage of this litigation here, here, and here). Continue Reading Illinois ‘Swipe Fee’ Law Faces Continued Pushback as Court Partially Extends Injunction
On December 20, 2024, an Illinois federal court, in considering a motion for a preliminary injunction brought by the Illinois Bankers Association, American Bankers Association, and other trade groups, ruled that national banks and federal savings associations will not be subject to Illinois’ groundbreaking law that, starting on July 1, 2025, would forbid card issuers, payment card networks, acquirer banks and payment processors from charging retailers for swipe fees on gratuities and “any use and occupation tax or excise tax” imposed by the State or a local government. (See here and here for our previous discussions on the law).Continue Reading Banks Win Temporary Reprieve from Novel Illinois Swipe-Fee Law
On November 21, the CFPB announced the arrival of its finalized larger participant rule (the “Rule”) regulating nonbank companies offering digital funds transfer and payment wallet applications to consumers.Continue Reading New CFPB Larger Participant Rule Boosts Oversight of Major Digital Payment Providers
On November 14, the CFPB entered into a consent order with a telecommunications company and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “company”) for allegedly withdrawing millions of dollars from over half a million consumer accounts and preventing money transfers to incarcerated individuals, depriving them of essential goods like food, medicine, and clothing, in violation of the CFPA’s prohibitions on unfair acts or practices.Continue Reading CFPB Hits Telecom Giant with Fines for Alleged Exploitation of Incarcerated Consumers
On October 18, a fintech trade group filed a complaint in a D.C. federal court challenging the CFPB’s interpretive rule on Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products. The rule, released last May, treats BNPL providers as credit card providers under TILA (previously discussed here). The complaint alleges various violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), among others, claiming that the CFPB violated the APA’s notice and comment requirements, exceeded its statutory authority when issuing the rule, and acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner in imposing requirements on BNPL providers.Continue Reading Trade Group Challenges CFPB’s Buy Now Pay Later Rule
The banking industry’s efforts to challenge a new Illinois law banning interchange fees, also known as “swipe fees,” on tax and tip payments gained significant momentum when the OCC criticized the law as an “ill-conceived” threat to the “efficient and effective” operation of the banking system in an amicus brief filed in Illinois federal court on October 2. Continue Reading Swipe Fee Saga Continues: OCC and Trade Groups Clash with Illinois AG
On September 20, the CFPB announced a proposed rule which would make a minor yet noteworthy amendment to the guidelines for the disclosures that remittance providers are required to provide to consumers in connection with certain international money transfers, or remittances.Continue Reading CFPB Revises Disclosure Requirements for Remittance Providers
On September 17, the CFPB issued a circular stating that financial institutions can be found liable for violating the Electronic Funds Transfer Act by charging overdraft fees if the there
Continue Reading CFPB Issues Circular Warning Against Overdraft Practices
In a letter to the CFPB released on September 10, several Senate Democrats implored the Bureau to establish stricter guardrails for BNPL providers, arguing that consumer harm will occur absent
Continue Reading Senators Urge Regulators to Adopt Tighter Controls for BNPL
On August 2, members of U.S. House of Representatives introduced H.J. Res. 195, a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) of recent CFPB guidance (previously discussed here) on buy now pay later (BNPL) lending. The Bureau’s guidance applied TILA protections previously reserved for credit card issuers, to BNPL lenders. Continue Reading Congressional Measure Aims to Undo Recent CFPB Buy Now Pay Later Guidance
The CFPB recently released a report on payment processing companies that manage school lunch payments for school districts. The companies, the report argues, cater to a captive market and often impose transaction fees that disproportionately affect low-income families. According to the Bureau, the report is intended to assist school districts in avoiding contracts with firms that charge families allegedly excessive fees to process their school lunch payments.Continue Reading CFPB Report Spotlights Hidden Fees in School Lunch Payments