Covid-19 Thought Leadership & Analysis

"CFPB makes it clear: Fair servicing is back, for real this time" by Jonice Gray Tucker and H Joshua Kotin (HousingWire)

A new presidential administration and a clarion call from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has transformed fair servicing from a seemingly remote risk into a front and center mandate. After the 2008 financial crisis, regulators enhanced long-standing fair lending examination guidelines to...

Jonice Gray Tucker, H Joshua Kotin

"CFPB order offers insight into pandemic mortgage servicing" by Jeffrey P. Naimon and H Joshua Kotin (Law360)

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in December issued a consent order based on alleged violations of its 2014 mortgage servicing regulations. The consent order, which also bootstraps claims of unfairness and deception to alleged technical violations of the servicing regulations —...

Jeffrey P. Naimon, H Joshua Kotin

Special Alert: CFPB redefines Qualified Mortgage; “GSE Patch” to expire

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week released two final rules further defining what types of loans can be a “qualified mortgage loan” for purposes of the bureau’s Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage Rule (ATR/QM Rule). The General QM Final Rule substantially revamps the general rules...

Jeffrey P. Naimon quoted in American Banker article, "A Biden CFPB could put pressure on mortgage servicers”

Jeffrey P. Naimon was quoted in an American Banker article, "A Biden CFPB could put pressure on mortgage servicers,” which discussed how mortgage servicers could face increased scrutiny in 2021 as federal and state agencies are expected to exert pressure on lenders that fail to work with borrowers...

"Square peg meets round hole: Regulatory responses to challenges created by innovation in banking" by Jonice Gray Tucker, Kari K. Hall, Brendan Clegg, and Anthony Carral (The Business Lawyer)

During the past decade, an underlying tension between the financial sector’s embrace of innovative products and services and the regulatory framework that governs the industry surfaced—and that tension has since become even more acute during the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing pressure from customers’...

Kari K. Hall, Jonice Gray Tucker, Anthony Carral

"Fairness gone viral: Fair lending considerations for financial institutions amid Covid-19" by Jonice Gray Tucker and Caroline M. Stapleton (American Bar Association Business Law Today)

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on certain protected classes in the United States, including, in particular, minority populations. Non-white populations have seen higher hospitalization rates, more deaths, and higher unemployment numbers over the past six months as compared...

Jonice Gray Tucker

"Force majeure in the Covid era – What now?" by Elizabeth E. McGinn, Ryan S. Pollard, and Anthony Carral (Sports Litigation Alert)

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted all aspects of the global economy, and sports is among the many industries that moved quickly to minimize the disruption. Very early on, members of the sports industry scrambled to analyze their force majeure clauses as customers, vendors, and key...

Elizabeth E. McGinn, Ryan S. Pollard, Anthony Carral

Jeffrey P. Naimon quoted in Wall Street Journal article, “Coronavirus poses an array of new legal risks for companies”

Jeffrey P. Naimon was quoted on September 23, 2020, in a Wall Street Journal article, “Coronavirus poses an array of new legal risks for companies,” which discussed some of the biggest challenges compliance officers are facing during the pandemic, including implementing the Paycheck Protection...

"Relief or risk?: The hidden costs of government lending" by Michelle L. Rogers, Katherine L. Halliday, and Katherine Brockway Katz (National Law Journal)

There is no longer any question that the economy will take years, not months, to fully recover from COVID-19, and additional funding for government and government-backed loans seems inevitable at some point. Examining the programs from the initial COVID-19 relief package provides context for...

Michelle L. Rogers, Katherine L. Halliday, Katherine Brockway Katz

"Reopening well: Balancing employee privacy with employee safety" by Elizabeth E. McGinn, Amanda R. Lawrence, James C. Chou, and David Rivera (Corporate Compliance Insights)

Consumer privacy has been a key area of focus over the past several years, but as companies begin return-to-work operations, they discover that employee privacy looms large as well. Well-intentioned companies seeking to keep employees safe risk incurring penalties from a variety of agencies based...

Elizabeth E. McGinn, Amanda R. Lawrence, James C. Chou, David Rivera