As we previously explained, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (“CFPB”) recently finalized Advisory Opinion Policy allows any person or entity to request an advisory opinion from the agency. When the CFPB finalized that Policy on November 30, 2020, it concurrently issued its first two advisory opinions: one addressing earned wage access (“EWA”) programs, and
Financial
CFPB Finalizes Advisory Opinion Program Opening Door for Those Seeking Clarity on Ambiguous Statutory or Regulatory Questions
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced in March 2020 that it would develop a new advisory opinion program under which it would publish in the Federal Register responses to questions seeking clarification of ambiguities in federal consumer financial law. On November 30, 2020, the CFPB issued a final Advisory Opinion Policy (“AO Policy”) setting…
What Creditors Need to Know About the Final Debt Collection Rule
The recent final rule (the “Rule”) implementing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) only directly governs parties defined as “debt collectors” by the FDCPA, principally meaning those who collect delinquent debt for others.[1] However, this Rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, accompanied by a 560-page Preamble, will also likely influence the collection activities…
2020 NASAA Fintech and Cyber Security Symposium – A Download of Key Comments
On October 27, the North American Securities Administrators Association[1] held its 2020 symposium on Fintech and Cybersecurity. A key theme of the symposium was the impact that the pandemic has had on fintech, cybersecurity, and regulating the financial markets – given that regulators and securities industry professionals are largely working from home. The panelists…
OCC Issues Final ‘True Lender’ Rule To Provide Clarity For Bank Lending Partnerships
On October 27, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued its final rule setting the test for determining who the ‘true lender’ is in a loan transaction, including in the context of a lending partnership between a federally-chartered bank and a non-bank third party. The final rule adopts the two-pronged test…
CFPB Rescinds RESPA Bulletin on Marketing and Services Agreements and Publishes Important FAQs
Announcements Mark Out a Clearer Path, but MSAs and Gifts Still Require Careful Review
Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) announced significant changes to how it will view the legality of Marketing and Services Agreements (“MSAs”) under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”). Most strikingly, the Bureau formally rescinded its…
Mobile Banking Startup Varo Money Becomes First Fintech Company Granted a National Bank Charter
On July 31, 2020, Varo Money Inc. announced that it was granted a national bank charter by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The charter will allow Varo, a mobile banking fintech, to launch a national bank and offer a range of financial services and products that are backed by the…
New York, California and Illinois – the First to Challenge to the OCC’s Valid-When-Made Rule
It did not take long for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (“OCC”) May 29 Final Rule codifying the valid-when-made principal to face challenges in court. On July 29, the attorneys general for New York, California and Illinois filed suit in the Northern District of California to block the rule, which extended…
New York Files Brief in Support of Dismantling OCC’s Fintech Charter
On July 23, 2020, the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) filed its appellate brief asking the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the lower court’s decision to block the Office of Comptroller of the Currency’s (“OCC”)’s special purpose national bank charter (“fintech charter”).
The DFS initially challenged the OCC’s fintech charter in…
OCC Clarifies the “Valid When Made” Principle
On May 29, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a long-awaited final rule to clarify and underscore the ‘valid when made’ principle in which the interest rates permissible before a bank transfers a loan continues to be permissible after the transfer to a non-bank.
Generally, under the National Bank Act…