Firm Alerts

On June 4, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued Circular 2024-03 regarding unlawful and unenforceable contract terms and conditions. The CFPB asserted that covered persons and service providers can violate the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s (“CFPA”) prohibition on deceptive acts and practices by including various terms that, among other things, (i) purport to waive or otherwise limit consumer rights or (ii) hide or misrepresent the terms applicable to consumers by using vague language to qualify language with broad disclaimers such as “subject to applicable law,”...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced a proposed amendment to Regulation V which would prohibit medical debt from credit reports in most circumstances. The proposed amendment is the latest step in the CFPB’s crusade against medical debt and follows the announcement in September 2023 of its intention to ban medical debt from credit reports... Read More

The United States Supreme Court granted the petition for a writ of certiorari in Flagstar Bank V. Kivett and at the same time vacated the judgment of the Ninth Circuit and remanded the case for further consideration in light of Cantero v. Bank of America, N.A., _____U.S. _______ (2024). Like the Cantero case, Flagstar Bank involves the National Bank Act and the preemption of a state law that requires lenders and holders to pay interest on residential mortgage escrow accounts... Read More

The Supreme Court, in deciding a case involving whether the parties had agreed to arbitrate any disputes, emphasized that arbitration agreements are simply contracts. Consequently, the first question in any arbitration dispute must be: What have these parties agreed to? The case Coinbase, Inc. v Suski involved a User Agreement that contained an arbitration provision with a delegation clause... Read More

The United States Supreme Court remanded Cantero v. Bank of America to the Second Circuit for a preemption analysis consistent with the Barnett Bank case as required by the Dodd Frank Act. The case involved National Bank Act preemption and a New York state law that requires lenders and holders to pay interest on residential mortgage escrow accounts. The unanimous decision summarized the facts leading up to the case, including a summary of the Barnett Bank case and the Dodd Frank Act’s incorporation of the decision and the “prevents or significantly interferes” standard into federal statutory...

On May 16, 2024 the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a 7-2 decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America, holding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (“CFPB”) funding mechanism does not violate the Appropriations Clause and is therefore constitutional... Read More

As of Monday May 13, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission’s recent amendments to the Safeguards Rule are effective. The new amendments to the Safeguards Rule require a financial institution to submit a notice to the FTC of any unauthorized acquisition of unencrypted customer data, referred to as a “notification event,” that involves 500 or more customers... Read More

In a decision coming just under the wire set by the Fifth Circuit, Judge Pittman of the District Court of Texas, Fort Worth Division granted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s motion for preliminary injunction in its case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), staying the CFPB’s late fee rule effective date of May 14, 2024... Read More

The case challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s credit card late fee rule is returning to Texas. Previously, the District Court for the District of Texas, Fort Worth Division ordered the case transferred to the District Court for the District of Columbia... Read More

On March 28, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a stay of the District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division’s transfer order in the Chamber of Commerce’s case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) challenging the CFPB’s late fee rule... Read More