DFPI reiterates “aggressive” enforcement during pandemic

State Issues State Regulators DFPI Consumer Protection Covid-19

On March 11, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) released a statement discussing the regulator’s expanded consumer protection efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic. Among other things, DFPI noted that it is “aggressively exercising its new authority to regulate a large group of newly covered financial services, including debt collectors, credit reporting and credit repair agencies, debt relief agencies and others,” and verifying compliance with state and federal laws protecting homeowners from “coronavirus-related foreclosures.” DFPI also stated it issued a cease-and-desist order filed against a student loan debt relief company (covered by InfoBytes here), and launched an investigation of lender efforts to evade state interest rate caps.