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CFPB Releases Student Banking Report Examining Credit Card Marketing Deals Targeting College Students
On December 14, the CFPB released a student banking report analyzing roughly 500 marketing agreements between colleges, universities and affiliated organizations, and large banks in an effort to identify trends in the school-sponsored credit card market. The report found in part that while credit cards offered in conjunction with educational institutions have declined since the CARD Act was enacted in 2009, many similar offers and deals still exist and may include features that lead students to rack up hundreds of dollars in fees. As explained by CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman Seth Frotman, “Colleges across the country continue to make deals with banks to promote products that have high fees, despite the availability of safer and more affordable products.” According to Mr. Frotman, “Students shouldn’t get stuck with the bill when their school inks a deal for an account that’s not in their best interest.”
In conjunction with the publication of this report, the Bureau also published a new compliance bulletin to assist colleges in understanding their obligations under the CARD Act and Regulation Z related to college credit card agreements. This bulletin noted, among other items, that many of the largest colleges and universities do not publish credit card agreements on their websites or make them available to students and the public upon request, creating increased risks of non-compliance. The complete set of credit card agreement data collected by the Bureau in accordance with its obligations under the Credit CARD Act of 2009 can be accessed here.
OCC Releases Bulletin on Revised Examination Procedures for the Military Lending Act
On October 7, following the Federal Reserve’s and the CFPB’s leads, the OCC released Bulletin 2016-33 advising financial institutions of updated interagency examination procedures for compliance with the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Military Lending Act (MLA) July 2015 final rule. As previously summarized in BuckleySandler’s Special Alert, the DoD issued an interpretive rule regarding the amendments to the regulations implementing the MLA on August 26, 2016. The 2015 final rule went into effect for consumer credit products other than credit cards on October 3, 2016. The requirements will take effect for credit card accounts one year later, on October 3, 2017. The OCC plans to include the updated interagency examination procedures in the Comptroller’s Handbook.
CFPB Releases Final Rule on Prepaid Financial Products; Chamber of Digital Commerce Comments on Scope of the Rule
On October 5, the CFPB released its final rule on prepaid financial products, including traditional prepaid cards, mobile wallets, person-to-person payment products, and other electronic accounts with the ability to store funds. The rule is intended to provide consumers with additional federal protections under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act analogous to the protections checking account consumers receive. The following federal protections are included in the new rule: (i) financial institutions will be required to provide certain account information for free via telephone, online, and in writing upon request, unless periodic statements are provided; (ii) financial institutions must work with consumers who find errors on their accounts, including unauthorized or fraudulent charges, timely investigate and resolve these incidents, and restore missing funds when appropriate; and (iii) consumers will be protected against unauthorized transactions, such as withdrawals or purchases, if their prepaid cards are lost or stolen. The rule contains new “Know Before You Owe” prepaid disclosures similar to those used for mortgages and student financial aid offers. In addition to requiring two (one short, the other long) disclosure forms, the new rule requires that prepaid account issuers post agreement offers made available to the general public on their websites, submit all agreements to the CFPB, and make agreements that are not required to be posted on their website available to relevant consumers. The new rule also includes credit protections stemming primarily from the Truth in Lending Act and the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, including providing consumers with monthly credit billing statements, giving consumers reasonable time – at least 21 days – to repay their debt before incurring late fees, ensuring that consumers are able to repay the debt before making a credit offer, and limiting the fee and interest charges to 25% of the total credit limit during the first year an account is open. The rule, which has not yet been published in the Federal Register, has a general compliance date of October 1, 2017, but includes certain accommodations, one of which is an October 2018 effective date for the requirement that agreements be submitted to the CFPB.
The Chamber of Digital Commerce submitted comments to the CFPB in December advocating that virtual currency products and services should fall outside the scope of the prepaid rule. Pursuant to the final rule, the CFPB found that “application of Regulation E and this final rule to such products and services is outside the scope of this rulemaking.”
Second Circuit Overturns Credit Card Antitrust Violation
On September 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that a credit card company did not unreasonably restrain trade in violation of the Sherman Act by prohibiting merchants from directing customers to use other, less costly forms of payment. The appeals court reversed based on the lower courts definition of the market as limited to the “core enabling functions provided by networks which allow merchants to capture, authorize, and settle transactions for customers who elect to pay with their credit or charge card.” According to the decision, this definition was too limited in this case, because the credit card network derived its market share from cardholder satisfaction, providing “no reason to intervene and disturb the present functioning of the payment‐card industry.” The court noted that the outcome in this case is different than in previous credit card exclusionary rule cases because here, the payment clearing network and the card issuing function are completely integrated, meaning that the issuer and the network are the same company.
CFPB Monthly Complaint Snapshot Highlights Credit Card Issues
On July 26, the CFPB released its most recent monthly complaint report, which provides a high-level snapshot of consumer complaint trends. The current report highlights credit card complaints. According to the report, between July 21, 2011 and July 1, 2016, the CFPB handled approximately 97,100 credit card-related complaints, making credit cards the fourth most complained about product. The report identifies billing disputes, identity theft/fraud/embezzlement, and “other” complaints as the three most common types of credit card-related complaints. The report states that, with respect to complaints related to credit decisions, consumers frequently complain about difficulty in understanding initial application decisions and servicing changes (such as interest rate adjustments and credit limit reductions). Credit card complaints described in the report also include (i) confusion over payment allocation relating to promotional and deferred interest balances; (ii) frustration with late fees and additional costs; and (iii) difficulty understanding the terms and conditions of rewards and obtaining benefits.
With respect to consumer complaints generally, the report’s “Geographic spotlight” section focuses on Washington and the Seattle metro area. The report notes that, as of July 1, Washington consumers have submitted 18,900 complaints, with approximately 11,000 of those from Seattle consumers. At 29%, mortgage loans are the most-complained-about product in Washington, with debt collection and credit reporting trailing at 27% and 15%, respectively. Across all products and throughout the nation, the CFPB has handled approximately 930,800 complaints.
Credit Cards 2016: Consumer Protection in Focus
The past year has seen heightened CFPB interest in the following areas: (i) deferred interest and rewards, (ii) limited English proficiency consumers, and (iii) the recent revisions to the Military Lending Act (MLA). Pursuing simplicity in the design of product features and closely following limited English proficiency issues will help credit issuers mitigate their regulatory risk. Also on the horizon in 2016 is the effective date of the MLA revisions, which were announced in July 2015.Deferred Interest and Rewards
The Bureau has been focused on the marketing and design of deferred interest products and issued a strong admonition in September 2014 relating to the potential for consumer surprise. However, there has been relatively little enforcement activity in this regard. Instead, enforcement generally has focused on technical violations of law. For example, an August 2015 consent order arose out of point-of-sale disclosures as opposed to the product features themselves. Some deferred interest issues, such as “old fashioned mistakes,” (e.g., “if paid in full” is dropped from the marketing copy) may represent low-hanging fruit for the CFPB and should be addressed to mitigate enforcement risk. The Bureau has also expressed concern about technical issues that may complicate deferred interest for consumers, such as expiration of the promotional period prior to the payment due date.
The Bureau has suggested that consumers base their choice of credit card more on the nature and richness of the rewards than on the interest rate. Accordingly, the Bureau has expressed concern about various aspects of rewards programs, including the expiration of points and complexity surrounding how they are earned and redeemed. While simplicity may reduce regulatory risk, it undoubtedly makes rewards programs more expensive for issuers, and makes it more difficult for consumers to distinguish among them.
Limited English Proficiency
In September 2015, the CFPB issued an enforcement action related to mortgages, which required the respondent to spend $1M on targeted advertising and an outreach campaign in Spanish and English over the five-year term of the order. The CFPB recently created several Spanish language documents: a glossary of basic financial terms as well as two documents titled “Your Money, Your Goals,” and “The Newcomer’s Guide to Managing Money.”
Notwithstanding these efforts, it is worth noting that the CFPB has not translated any of the credit card model forms into Spanish. Determining the appropriate extent of Spanish-language marketing—and fulfillment, if any—is a difficult calculation, and the Bureau has provided no firm guidance. Still, while the industry awaits further developments in 2016, it is advisable to make specific efforts to engage Spanish-speaking communities.
Military Lending Act
The recently revised MLA will also impact the credit card industry in 2016. Under the new regulations, most credit card products will be subject to the MLA, including its 36 percent interest rate limitation. Creditors will need to determine who is a covered borrower, but the revised regulations also provided two safe harbors for a creditor to make such a determination. The revised regulations take effect on October 3, 2016, except for most credit cards, as to which the compliance date is October 3, 2017. BuckleySandler addressed this new rulemaking in an MLA Spotlight Series (see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
CFPB Reports on Effect of the CARD Act
On December 3, the CFPB published a report summarizing the impact of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD Act) on consumers and the credit market. According to the report, access to credit has increased by 10% since early 2012, with more than 60% of adults owning at least one credit card account. The report states that as a result of the CARD Act placing limitations on the use of over-limit fees, and its requirement that such fees and other penalty fees be “reasonable and proportional” to the underlying violation of account terms, consumers saved billions of dollars from 2011 through 2014. The CFPB’s outstanding areas of concern relating to the credit market include: (i) deferred-interest promotions; (ii) debt collection practices; and (iii) rewards program offers that provide only partial information.
Second Circuit Upholds District Court Decision to Dismiss Arbitration Case
On November 19, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the Southern District of New York’s decision to dismiss a case alleging that two leading credit card issuing banks schemed to require that disputes be settled in arbitration, as opposed to class action lawsuits. The plaintiffs challenged the District Court’s decision on the grounds that language in United States v. General Motors Corp. should be used “to adopt a rule that the existence of conspiracy is a legal conclusion subject to review de novo.” Ross v. Citigroup, Inc., No. 14-1610 (2nd Cir. Nov. 19, 2015). Plaintiffs further argued that the District Court’s conclusion that the defendants’ actions did not constitute as conspiracy in violation of the Sherman Act should not be shielded by the “clearly erroneous” test. The District Court analyzed various “plus factors,” including motive, the quantity and nature of inter-firm communications, and whether the arbitration clauses were “artificially standardized” because of an illegal agreement, to determine whether or not conspiracy existed among the credit card issuing banks. The District Court concluded that the credit card issuing banks’ final decision to implement class-action-barring clauses was reached “individually and internally.” Stating that General Motors has never been applied as generously as the plaintiffs argued for it to be, the Second Circuit’s review of the record found the District Court’s conclusion plausible and not “clearly erroneous.”
CFPB, 47 State AGs, and District of Columbia Announce $216 Million Settlement to Resolve Credit Card Debt-Buying Investigation
On July 8, the CFPB along with 47 state attorneys general and DC announced an agreement with a major bank to resolve allegations that it sold faulty credit card “zombie debts” to third-party debt buyers, which included accounts with unlawfully obtained judgments, inaccurate or paid-off balances, and debts owed by deceased borrowers. The federal and state investigators also claimed that the bank filed deceptive debt-collection lawsuits against borrowers using robo-signed or illegally sworn affidavits to obtain false or inaccurate judgments for unverified debts. Under terms of the consent order, the bank agreed to, among other things, pay (i) $106 million to 47 state attorneys general, (ii) a $30 million civil money penalty to the CFPB, and (iii) provide at least $50 million in restitution to affected borrowers. The bank also agreed to cease collections on more than 528,000 accounts, and require that third-party debt buyers be prohibited from reselling debts purchased from the bank, unless they are sold back to the bank.
In a related announcement, the OCC imposed a $30 million civil money penalty over allegedly illegal non-home debt collection litigation practices and Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) compliance practices. The OCC’s action stems from the bank’s practices related to the preparation and notarization of sworn documents used in debt litigation proceedings, and inadequate policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the SCRA.
Tennessee Enacts Legislation Requiring Payment Service Providers to Provide Adequate Disclosures to Merchants
On April 17, the Tennessee Governor Bill Haslem signed H.B. 547, which requires the disclosure of fees and other details in contracts entered into by payment service providers with merchants located within the state. The legislation requires the payment service providers to provide merchants with information detailing where the merchant can obtain access to operating rules, regulations, and bylaws under the agreement. In addition, the law requires payment service providers to disclose (i) the effective date of the agreement; (ii) terms of the agreement; (iii) any provisions relating to early termination or cancellation of the agreement; and (iv) a full schedule of all payment services fees with respect to the credit card, debit card, or other payment services under the agreement. The law also requires payment service providers to supply merchants with a monthly statement of fees, total value of transactions, and in some cases the aggregate fee percentage.
