The issue of whether a consumer can unilaterally revoke consent to receive automated remains a significant concern for industry. We look at how the FCC and courts have approached the issue and discuss recent significant decisions from federal appeals courts holding that the TCPA does not allow a consumer to unilaterally revoke consent when it is given as part of a bargained-for exchange.

In Part II of our podcast, we discuss the following with Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, and Malini Mithal, Associate Director of the FTC’s Division of Financial Practices: recent FTC enforcement and regulatory activity in the areas of data security, privacy, lead generation, and payments; highlights of the FTC’s workshop on credit reporting accuracy; status of litigation challenging the FTC’s restitution authority; and coordination with CFPB and state attorneys general.

In Part I of our two-part podcast, we discuss the following topics with Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, and Malini Mithal, Associate Director of the FTC’s Division of Financial Practices: the FTC’s response to COVID-19, important recent FTC enforcement actions and priorities going forward, Director Smith’s recent blog post on using artificial intelligence and algorithms, and recent FTC activity involving fintech and small business lending.

We explore a wide range of topics with AG Weiser including: who are his key staff members and their backgrounds; his office’s actions in response to COVID-19; recent changes to the CO Consumer Protection Act; and his office’s activities concerning student loans, robocalls, payday lending, and data privacy and security and its approach to consumer complaints.

We look at why compliance with the compensation provisions remains a high risk area for the mortgage industry. Discussion topics include how the Bureau identifies violations, litigation and enforcement liability, secondary market considerations, the Bureau’s increasing enforcement activity, and the areas likely to be revisited by the Bureau in proposed revisions to the compensation provisions.

We look at the impact of federal and state law including relevant CARES Act provisions, state garnishment directives, and federal preemption, identify issues banks should consider in handling garnishments or exercising setoff rights, and offer suggestions for mitigation measures banks can take as they decide how to address the challenges in this area.

We are joined by Kenneth Thomas, who is widely-viewed as the nation’s leading CRA expert and has advised federal regulators on CRA reform. After reviewing CRA’s origins and previous reforms, Ken shares his views on the current OCC/FDIC proposed changes, including why reform is a White House priority, differences in perspectives among CRA regulators, the proposal’s deposit-based approach to assessment areas and performance standards for larger banks, using a phased-in approach to reform, and the Presidential election’s impact on reform.

Increasing regulatory, competitive and economic challenges are causing a new focus on credit cards by medium and smaller-sized financial institutions. We are joined by Robert Curry, Managing Partner and Chief Business Officer of Bassett Capital Group, LLC, an expert on credit card portfolio management, acquisition and divestiture, for a discussion of the types of business structures available to institutions seeking to offer credit cards for the first time and the associated contractual, compliance and implementation issues. We also examine issues that institutions now offering credit cards should consider in deciding how to operationally move forward during an economic downturn and heightened competition.

After looking at how the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath might inform regulators’ response to the pandemic, we discuss how collections, loss mitigation/hardship programs, and originations of existing products and new programs designed to assist pandemic-impacted consumers (including changes to credit risk/fraud models to address the pandemic’s effects) can create UDAP and fair lending risk.

Our discussion examines a range of issues, including how the wording of the model forms could create consumer confusion, challenges in determining whether a debt is time-barred, and questions arising from use of a “know or reason to know” that a debt is time-barred standard to trigger disclosures. We also look at industry’s reaction and how the proposal’s finalization is likely to fit with the CFPB's issuance of a final larger debt collection rule.