The CFPB is proposing revisions to its 2016 no-action letter (“NAL”) policy and is planning to establish “BCFP Product Sandbox,” a regulatory sandbox that would encourage financial institutions to explore innovative products. The revamped policy would address the shortcomings in the 2016 version and streamline the application submission and review process, thus providing banks with
CFPB
Kraninger Expected to be Confirmed Today
We expect the U.S. Senate to confirm, as soon as this afternoon, President Trump’s nominee to lead the CFPB as its Director, Kathy Kraninger. A positive, though razor-thin and highly contested, outcome for Kraninger appears inevitable based on the Senate’s vote just a few days ago, strictly along party lines, to invoke “cloture” on the…
Fair Lending: State Responses to Moves at the CFPB
This Post is a “Part II” to our recent blog post describing the CFPB’s current plans to consider new rules that may narrow lenders’ exposure to “disparate-impact” liability under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”), as well as other federal developments along the same lines, particularly with respect to auto lending. Today, we report on…
A Veterans Day Catch Up on the CFPB’s Surrender of Military Lending Act Supervision
In light of Veterans Day, there are some recent notable developments regarding the Military Lending Act (MLA) worth discussing. Enacted in 2006, the MLA caps the annual interest rate for an extension of consumer credit to a servicemember and/or their dependents at thirty six percent, among other protections. The MLA initially applied to a narrow…
CFPB Signals Potential for Fair Lending Rulemaking
In its recently published Fall 2018 Rulemaking Agenda, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection announced that it is considering future rulemaking activity regarding the requirements of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) – specifically, “concerning the disparate impact doctrine in light of recent Supreme Court case law and the Congressional disapproval of a prior…
Mulvaney’s First New Enforcement Action Continues Focus on Asset-Advance Firms
In the latest sign of regulatory scrutiny of asset-advance companies offering consumers what regulators believe are in fact regulated “credit” under federal law and “loans” under state law, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) filed its first new lawsuit under Acting Director Mulvaney last Thursday. The complaint, filed in the Central District of California,…
CFPB Announces a New “Office of Innovation”
Earlier this week, Acting Director Mulvaney announced the creation of a new “Office of Financial Innovation,” and appointed Paul Watkins, an official who led the Arizona Attorney General’s fintech initiatives, to lead the Office. The new Office, which will now do the work formerly done under the Bureau’s Project Catalyst, “will focus on creating policies…