Please join Troutman Pepper Partners Chris Willis and Jason Cover as they discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) recent special edition Supervisory Highlights focused on “junk fees.” Chris and Jason dive into the report and talk about how this fits into the CFPB’s broader initiative on junk fees, what exactly constitutes a junk fee, the types of fees the CFPB identifies as problematic, if this means that creditors can’t charge any of these fees, and steps to take to mitigate risk when imposing fees. 

Please join Troutman Pepper Partner Chris Willis and his colleagues Mark Furletti, Joe Reilly, and Christine Emello for the last installment of a special three-part series about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new small business lending data collection and reporting final rule — the Section 1071 rule. Part 3 focuses on specific areas, including highlighting those we worry will be especially troublesome for small business lenders.CFS Partner Mark Furletti focuses his practice on federal and state consumer and small business lending and payments laws, including those that apply to payment cards, buy-now-pay-later transactions, vehicle-secured loans, lines of credit, unsecured loans, and deposit products. He counsels consumer and small business financial services providers, including banks, on regulatory compliance, and defends them in class-action litigation and government supervisory and enforcement matters. He also advises merchant receivables purchasers, companies that specialize in online small business lending, and companies that interact with their customers electronically or set up recurring billing arrangements with their customers.CFS Partner Joe Reilly regularly represents lenders, fintech startups, neobanks, and mortgage servicers in enforcement matters, including informal investigations and examinations by the CFPB, OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC, SEC, numerous state agencies, and mortgage government-sponsored enterprises, such as Fannie Mae. His compliance counseling work covers the entire range of consumer and business lending laws and rules under TILA/Reg. Z, ECOA/Reg. B, UDAAP, EFTA/Reg. E, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, debt-collection laws, GLBA privacy provisions, state licensing regimes, and others.CFS Associate Christine Emello focuses her practice on consumer financial services matters, with an emphasis on disputes, litigation, investigations, and examinations. She has worked on both federal and state court cases in jurisdictions across the U.S. She also represents banks, fintechs, and financial services companies in regulatory examinations and investigations brought by state and federal regulators, including the CFPB, the DOJ, and state attorneys general.

Please join Troutman Pepper Partner Chris Willis and his colleagues Stefanie Jackman, Caleb Rosenberg, and Chris Capurso for the second installment of our special two-part series about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) recent policy statement on abusiveness. In Part 2, the panel discusses specific examples cited in the policy statement, as well as lessons learned about what constitutes abusiveness and what doesn't from the CFPB's perspective.CFS Partner Stefanie Jackman devotes her practice to assisting financial services institutions facing state and federal government investigations and examinations, counseling them on complex compliance issues, as well as defending them in individual and class-action lawsuits. Stefanie represents clients across the financial services industry, including banks and nonbanks, mortgage banking lenders and servicers, debt collectors and buyers, third-party service providers, health care and medical revenue cycle service providers, credit and prepaid card companies, auto lenders, and fintechs. She regularly advises her clients on issues arising under an array of federal and state consumer financial laws, including UDAP/UDAAP statutes, the FDCPA, FCRA, TCPA, EFTA, SCRA, and TILA.CFS Associate Caleb Rosenberg focuses his practice on helping small business finance companies, banks, fintech companies, and licensed lenders navigate regulatory risks posed by state and federal laws. He has experience performing regulatory due diligence on financial technology companies and assisting clients in responding to regulatory inquiries.CFS Associate Chris Capurso focuses his practice on consumer financial services law, primarily on federal and state law compliance matters. Chris regularly advises financial institutions, lenders, and sales finance companies in the development and maintenance of closed-end and open-end lending, automobile finance, fintech, point-of-sale, solar finance, small dollar, and other credit programs.

Financial services companies are using AI to assist with many business processes, including underwriting decisions, consumer credit approval, servicing and collections, loss mitigation programs, customer interaction on websites and mobile apps via chatbots, and in detecting fraud. In this fourth episode, Stephen Piepgrass and colleagues Chris Willis and Michael Yaghi examine the use and impact of AI in the financial services industry. They discuss the potential risks financial services companies may face with increased reliance on AI, as well as the increased focus on AI by various regulators and state attorneys general.Our panel also offers practical suggestions for financial services companies who want to develop or adopt machine learning models into their business processes.

Please join Troutman Pepper Partner Chris Willis and his colleagues Lori Sommerfield and Caleb Rosenberg for the second installment of a special three-part series about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) new small business lending data collection and reporting final rule — the Section 1071 rule. Part 2 takes a deeper dive into the rule's data collection requirements, including what needs to be collected, when and how, and significant new provisions, dealing with discouraging people from responding to Section 1071 information requests, particularly concerning demographic information.Stay tuned for Part 3, which focuses on specific areas for consideration, including those especially troublesome for small business lenders.CFS Partner Lori Sommerfield brings more than two decades of experience in representing a wide range of banks, financial institutions, and financial services companies in fair lending and responsible banking regulatory compliance. She has extensive experience in helping clients navigate fair lending examinations and supervisory issues, and she has successfully represented clients in high-stakes fair lending regulatory investigations and enforcement actions. Before joining the firm, Lori held significant legal positions in federal government, in-house, and private practice settings (including two other nationally known law firms), which she leverages to effectively represent her clients' interests.CFS Associate Caleb Rosenberg focuses his practice on helping small business finance companies, banks, fintech companies, and licensed lenders navigate regulatory risks posed by state and federal laws. He has experience performing regulatory due diligence on financial technology companies and assisting clients in responding to regulatory inquiries.

Please join Troutman Pepper Partners Chris Willis and Kim Phan for an in-depth discussion about the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) recent record retention enforcement actions. Chris and Kim explore the uptick in enforcement actions over the last year, the claims made in these cases, the SEC-imposed requirements and penalties on these companies, what we can expect going forward from the financial services regulators, and what financial institutions should do now to get ahead of these types of enforcement actions.Privacy + Cyber Partner Kim Phan focuses her practice on providing guidance to clients on regulatory compliance matters, including supervisory and enforcement interactions with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and other federal regulatory agencies, including the SEC. She has successfully represented multiple national companies through the FTC investigatory process, resulting in "no-action" letters. She has counseled a national consumer reporting agency through its CFPB compliance obligations, including conducting risk assessments of consumer products and services, updating policies and procedures, and establishing an audit process to assess compliance with federal consumer financial laws. Kim also has advised clients through state attorneys general and departments of consumer protection investigations.

Please join Troutman Pepper Partner Chris Willis and his colleagues Alan Wingfield, James Kim, and Taylor Gess for the first installment of a special two-part series about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) recent policy statement on abusiveness. In Part 1 the panel discusses the background of the policy statement, the definition of abusiveness, when it exists and when it doesn't, and practical considerations for compliance.Stay tuned for Part 2 of this special series on the abusiveness statement for a deeper dive into some specific examples cited in the policy statement, as well as lessons learned about what constitutes abusiveness and what doesn't from the CFPB's perspective.CFS Partner Alan Wingfield focuses his practice on financial services litigation and consumer law compliance counseling. He helps businesses with the myriad federal and state consumer protection laws, as well as laws regulating financial services and other types of consumer-facing companies. Alan regularly represents businesses in class-action and individual consumer litigation in many national venues, particularly with the "alphabet soup" of consumer protection statutes, including Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act; Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act's (Dodd-Frank) Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts and Practices (UDAAP) regulation; and state equivalents of the Unfair and Deceptive Act and Practices Act (UDAP).CFS Partner James Kim leads the firm's fintech industry group. He advises fintechs, banks, investors, and other clients on federal and state consumer financial laws and regulations, including UDAAP. He helps clients navigate examinations and investigations with the CFPB, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve Board, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and various state agencies. As a former CFPB senior enforcement attorney, James provides the industry knowledge and expertise that fintechs and financial institutions require when launching new products or facing regulatory scrutiny.CFS Associate Taylor Gess provides regulatory advice on matters related to federal and state consumer protection, consumer finance, and payments laws, including those that apply to payment cards, lines of credit, installment loans, electronic payments, online banking, buy-now-pay-later transactions, retail installment contracts, rental-purchase transactions, and small business loans. Taylor represents a broad spectrum of clients, such as fintech companies, banks, payment card issuers, retail merchants, online lending platforms, and solar and home improvement finance companies. In addition to handling matters on various consumer protection statutes, she also advises on issues related to payment network rules, electronic contracting, telemarketing, UDAAP, and military lending, while also helping clients develop compliance management systems, review marketing materials, and structure new products.

Please join Troutman Pepper Partner Chris Willis and his colleagues Lori Sommerfield, Addison Morgan, and Josh McBeain for the first installment of a special three-part series about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new small business lending data collection and reporting final rule — the Section 1071 rule. Part 1 of this special series provides a general overview of the rule, including:What the rule is designed to do;The definition of a small business for the purpose of this rule;What types of small business lenders are covered;Covered and excluded credit transactions as defined by the rule;The three types of data required to be collected;Anti-discouragement provisions of the rule;Data collection and reporting requirements and what the CFPB intends to do with the collected data;Safe harbor provisions within the rule; andThe differences between the proposed rule and the final rule.Stay tuned for Part 2 of this special series that takes a deeper dive into the rule’s data collection requirements and anti-discouragement provisions.CFS Partner Lori Sommerfield brings more than two decades of experience in representing a wide range of banks, financial institutions, and financial services companies in fair lending and responsible banking regulatory compliance. She has extensive experience in helping clients navigate fair lending examinations and supervisory issues, and she has successfully represented clients in high-stakes fair lending regulatory investigations and enforcement actions. Prior to joining the firm, Lori held significant legal positions in federal government, in-house, and private practice settings (including two other nationally known law firms), which she leverages to effectively represent her clients’ interests.CFS Associate Addison Morgan represents several of the nation’s preeminent financial institutions in litigation arising under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Federal Trade Commission Holder Rule, and other consumer protection state analogs. In addition to his litigation practice, Addison also provides regulatory compliance assistance to a wide array of companies across the financial services industry.CFS Associate Josh McBeain focuses his practice on federal and state consumer and business lending and payments laws, including those applying to credit cards, installment loans, lines of credit, point-of-sale finance, and the development of digital financial service products. Before joining the firm, Josh served as in-house counsel to a major financial institution where he advised on an array of regulatory, legal, and compliance issues. He also worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis for several years, where he examined banks for compliance with consumer and business laws.

Please join Troutman Pepper Partner Chris Willis and his colleagues Jonathan Floyd and Meagan Mihalko as they discuss recent trends in Article III standing in the federal courts. The trio examine why this is a big deal in consumer litigation, whether courts consistently apply recent Supreme Court decisions with one another, and what considerations and implications defendants should consider when deciding whether or not to remove a case from state to federal court.Consumer Financial Services Associate Jonathan Floyd focuses his practice on financial services litigation, representing clients in class actions and business disputes in both federal and state courts. Jonathan helps businesses navigate and litigate the myriad consumer and financial services laws, particularly with the many "alphabet soup" federal consumer protection statutes, such as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Jonathan's experience also covers a variety of state consumer protection laws, and he regularly litigates actions arising under the West Virginia Consumer Credit Protection Act (WVCCPA) and New York General Business Law Section 349.Consumer Financial Services Associate Meagan Mihalko's national practice includes defending both class-action and individual matters involving federal consumer protection statutes like the FCRA, the FDCPA, and the TCPA. Meagan represents financial services clients, including banks, consumer reporting agencies, background screening companies, debt buyers, and debt collectors, in individual and class-action litigation throughout the U.S. Meagan has successfully obtained summary judgment for clients in both class actions and individual cases, and she has litigated cases in federal courts across the U.S.

Please join Troutman Pepper Partner Chris Willis and his fellow Partner Julie Hoffmeister as they discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) recent request for information about data brokers and the potential interplay with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). During this episode, they expand on the CFPB's potential FCRA rulemaking regarding data brokers, the CFPB's intent to monitor data brokers and its desire to have greater oversight on the data broker industry, and the steps that the CFPB may take in response to the request for information.As part of the firm's Privacy + Cyber Practice Group, Julie focuses her practice on defending consumer-facing companies of all types in individual and class actions, including claims under the FCRA and other federal and state law-related privacy claims.