Firm Alerts

A federal court in New York has dismissed a class action filed against two credit card securitization trusts and a nonbank limited liability company finding that the National Bank Act (“NBA”) preempts New York usury claims. Peterson v. Chase Card Funding LLC, No. 19-00741 (W.D.N.Y. Sept. 21, 2020). In rendering its decision, the federal court distinguished Madden v. Midland Funding and deferred to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (“OCC”) new rule regarding the permissible interest rate on transferred loans (i.e., the “Madden fix” valid-when-made (“VWM”) rule; see our ALERT of...

On September 25, 2020, the Governor of California signed into law SB 908, the Debt Collection Licensing Act, and AB 1864, the “Mini-CFPB” and California Consumer Financial Protection Law (“CCFPL”). See our prior ALERT dated Sept. 3, 2020, for more information. Beginning January 1, 2022, the Debt Collection Licensing Act will require any person engaged in the business of debt collection in California to obtain a license, making California the 35th state to require collectors to obtain a license. The Debt Collection Licensing Act also amends the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, as...

In a recent opinion, the Eleventh Circuit joined the Sixth Circuit in holding that verifying the identity of a consumer is a "legitimate business need" under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"). Domante v. Dish Networks, LLC, 8:17-cv-00472 (11th Cir. Sept. 9, 2020). The consumer had alleged that a television service provider negligently and willfully violated the FCRA by requesting and obtaining the consumer's consumer report without a permissible purpose. According to the television service provider, it requested and obtained the consumer's consumer report from a credit reporting agency...

State and federal regulators continue to wrestle with digital currency issues. Notable developments at the federal level include the following: OCC ANPRM and Letter Regarding Cryptoassets On July 7th, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking and requested comments by August 3rd related to its regulations on banking issues related to digital activities, use of technology and innovation. The notice posed a number of questions for the public to answer, including the following set of questions related to cryptocurrency: What types of...

On August 31, 2020, the California legislature passed AB 1864, a bill that has been nicknamed the "Mini-CFPB" as it creates a state regulatory agency resembling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB"). The bill would rename the "Department of Business Oversight" ("DBO") as the "Department of Financial Protection and Innovation" (DFPI"). In addition to the existing powers already executed by the DBO, the new DFPI would also have the authority to bring a civil action to enforce the provisions of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 or regulations issued by the CFPB...

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) has proposed a rule that addresses when a national bank or federal savings bank will be deemed to make a loan under federal banking law and is the “true lender” in partnerships with third parties...Read More  

On July 20, 2020, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), as part of its FDiTech initiative, released information regarding a proposed public/private standard-setting partnership and a voluntary certification program...Read More 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued its final rule regarding Payday, Vehicle Title and Certain High-Cost Loans (“Rule”). The final Rule will be effective 90 days after its publication in the Federal Register...Read More 

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Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals has opined that Bitcoin is considered “money” under the Florida Money Service Business statute and a cash-for-bitcoin business must be registered as a money service business. Florida v. Espinoza, No. 3D16-1860, 2019-WL-361893 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2019)...Read More