Firm Alerts

Add Connecticut, Minnesota and South Carolina to your scorecard of states proposing broad anti-evasion provisions for licensing statutes. See Connecticut SB 1033: SB1033 | Connecticut 2023 | AN ACT CONCERNING VARIOUS REVISIONS TO THE BANKING STATUTES. | TrackBill; Minnesota SF 1635: S1635-1 (mn.gov); South Carolina S 518: Bill Text: SC S0518 | 2023-2024 | 125th General Assembly | Introduced | LegiScan. These states follow Illinois, Hawaii, New Mexico and Maine, which have already adopted versions of such provisions. See, e.g., our Alert of July 20, 2021. These broad provisions are typically...

Colorado appears to want a second bite at the state opt-out apple. A bill introduced to limit charges on smaller consumer loans includes a provision that would revive Colorado’s explicit rejection of federal usury preemption by way of Section 525 of the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (“DIDMCA”). See Colorado HB 1229 (passed house on third reading without further amendment on April 11; introduced in Senate on April 12; enacting a new Colo. Rev. Stat. § 5-13-106.). Colorado already opted out of federal preemption once before and previously repealed its...

California finalized the new privacy regulations that implement Proposition 24, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”). See our prior ALERTS dated Nov. 4, 2020. The regulations are the latest piece in a complex 18-month rulemaking process that began in September of 2021. The regulations implement the CPRA, as passed in 2020 and effective January 1, 2023, and are the first full rulemaking conducted by the newly created California Privacy Protection Agency. The new regulations build upon the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) and the regulations implementing the CCPA...

In response to a written request by the Small Business Finance Association, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final preemption determination finding that the Truth in Lending Act does not preempt the commercial financing disclosure statutes in New York, California, Utah and Virginia. See our ALERTS dated Sept. 29, 2022 and Dec. 14, 2020 (New York); June 15, 2022 (California) and May 6, 2022 (Utah and Virginia) for our discussion of these laws. The CFPB issued the final determination after issuing a preliminary determination and undergoing notice-and-comment rulemaking. See...

As part of its ongoing battle against “junk fees” and following its request for comment on credit card late payment fees and the fee safe harbor, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) recently issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend the Regulation Z credit card penalty fee safe harbor as it applies to credit card late fees from its current rate of $30 for the first violation and $41 thereafter to the lesser of $8 or 25% of the minimum payment. See our ALERT of June 24, 2022. The proposed changes to Regulation Z penalty fees are limited to late fees at this time; however,...

On February 10, the Illinois Senate introduced Senate Bill 2234, the Small Business Truth in Lending Act. S.B. 2234 would join similar laws in California and New York in broadly requiring commercial financing to provide consumer Truth-in-Lending-like disclosures for commercial financing under $2.5 million. See our prior ALERTS dated February 10, 2023 (New York) and June 15, 2022 (California). Read More

On February 27, 2023, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America to determine the constitutionality of the CFPB’s funding structure. The question before the Supreme Court has two parts; whether the court of appeals erred (i) in holding that the statute providing funding to the CFPB, 12 U.S.C. 5497, violates the Appropriations Clause, U.S. Const. Art. I, § 9, Cl. 7, and (ii) in vacating a regulation promulgated at a time when the CFPB was receiving such funding. Read More

On February 17, the Federal Trade Commission announced a new Office of Technology to keep pace with technological developments in the digital marketplace. The Office of Technology will support the FTC’s law enforcement and policy work and will have dedicated staff and resources. Read More

The Colorado Senate Health and Human Services Committee will consider Senate Bill 93, a new bill targeted at “medical debt.” S.B. 93 would define “medical debt” as “debt, other than a healthcare loan, arising directly from the receipt of health-care services or of medical products or devices.” S.B. 93 would limit the interest rate on medical debt, impose certain requirements on repayment plans and make violations of Colorado’s billing laws a deceptive trade practice. Read More

On February 1, the New York Department of Financial Services issued final regulations implementing the Commercial Finance Disclosure Law (“CFDL”). The regulations apply to multiple types of commercial financing products and require providers to deliver disclosures when “extending a specific offer” for commercial financing in amounts under $2.5 million to a “recipient,” defined as a person who applies for commercial financing and is made a specific offer of commercial financing by a provider. This final regulation is the third version of the regulation issued. Read More