Consumer Finance
One of the most significant consumer finance firms in the US market.Chambers USA
Practice Overview
Consumer financial services is one of the nation’s most heavily regulated industries. Companies creating new products, considering significant transactions, undergoing regulatory examinations, or facing enforcement actions or litigation need an experienced legal team to ensure their long-term success.
Buckley has a seasoned, industry-leading team of more than 100 lawyers focusing on consumer finance that counsels clients on the ever-growing array of federal and state statutes and regulations governing their products and services. Our lawyers are intimately familiar with these statutes and regulations and with the business dynamics of each product segment of consumer finance. The depth of our work gives us an unparalleled view of the marketplace as companies seek to tackle challenges and address emerging risks.
Buckley advises clients — from global financial institutions to start-ups — across products, markets, and industries. Our clients include depository institutions; mortgage companies; auto, student, and specialty lenders; secondary market loan purchasers; credit, debit, and payment card companies; the full spectrum of online financial services products, including marketplace lenders and other fintech companies; money transmitters and payment processors; debt collectors and debt buyers; and retail installment sellers. In addition, we represent private equity firms that own these companies or are considering acquiring them.
We regularly counsel clients in matters involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Justice, state attorneys general, and other federal and state regulators.
Our work has included:
- Creating Winnow, a comprehensive, interactive, and searchable database of more than 23,000 state law requirements through which financial services companies can generate legal inventories tailored by business type, license, and product (mortgage, auto, credit card, consumer, and commercial loans, among others); it also includes laws related to servicing of these products, and topics like marketing and advertising, debt collection, telemarketing, notary requirements, electronic signatures and documents, powers of attorney, and privacy and data security
- Advising fintech companies on approaching IPOs, performing due diligence of business models, licensure, and regulatory compliance, drafting opinions for underwriters and investors, and drafting risk factors for securities filings
- Representing a consumer lender in connection with an FTC investigation into data security and lending practices
- Providing counsel and assistance on an array of matters (including those relating to origination and servicing) to an established UK-based financial services company launching a web-based platform in the United States, which offers low-interest, unsecured loans to consumers that are repaid primarily through payroll deduction
- Advising a bank regarding its credit card, open and closed-end consumer loan program (including closed-end personal loans as well as overdraft, personal, and home equity lines of credit) and provided revisions to its account-opening, advertising, and other disclosures for such products
- Assisting fintech companies with their bank partnerships, including providing regulatory counsel on compliance matters, ensuring acquisition of proper licenses, and negotiating bank partnership agreements
- Representing a manufactured and mobile-home lender in investigations by the CFPB and DOJ into its lending and servicing practices
- Advising a marketplace lender on compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act
- Conducting a compliance gap analysis for a consumer finance company with a multistate footprint to evaluate regulatory risk under federal consumer protection laws, along with ongoing regulatory counseling and transactional advice for the company
- Conducting a state law survey for a telecom client regarding finance charge limitations, payment requirements, and default rights
One of the most significant consumer finance firms in the US market.Chambers USA
Articles
"The pendulum always swings twice: Disparate impact under the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations" by Jeffrey P. Naimon and Sasha Leonhardt (American Bar Association Consumer Financial Services Committee Newsletter)
For over forty years, courts took the lead on interpreting the Fair Housing Act’s (“FHA’s”) prohibition on discriminatory housing practices, including home mortgage lending. While different administrations have varied as to whether the Supreme Court’s disparate impact theory from the Griggs v. Duke...
Articles"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 —...
Articles"CFPB credit stance has broad specialty finance implications" by Jeffrey P. Naimon and H Joshua Kotin (Law360)
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an advisory opinion at the end of November that could compel specialty-finance companies — including those offering income-share agreements, litigation funding, merchant cash advances and earned wage access products — to take a fresh look at whether...
Articles"6 key ways the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 would revise the CCPA" by Amanda R. Lawrence, Sherry-Maria Safchuk, Garylene D. Javier, and John Georgievski (Corporate Compliance Insights)
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the state’s landmark privacy regulation, became effective only eight months ago – and yet, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA), a modified version of the CCPA, has garnered enough support to appear on the November 2020 ballot in California...
Articles"Implementing the CCPA regulations: Are you ready?" by Amanda R. Lawrence, Elizabeth E. McGinn, and Sherry-Maria Safchuk (Cybersecurity Law Report)
The final regulations under the California Consumer Privacy Act, introduced by the California Attorney General last October, became effective on August 14, 2020. The AG has already implemented many of the changes suggested in the public comments, but there are still several open questions that...
ArticlesSpecial Alert: California’s new consumer financial protection law expands UDAAP and enforcement authority
On Monday, August 31, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1864 , which enacts the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) and changes the name of the Department of Business Oversight (DBO) to the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI). Key takeaways...
Special Alerts"After storm and fire: How states protect service members" by Jeffrey P. Naimon, Sasha Leonhardt, and Jessica M. Shannon (Law360)
This has been an active year for National Guard call-ups to active duty, as the U.S. addresses hurricanes, wildfires and the novel coronavirus pandemic. National Guard activations are likely to remain high for several months due to ongoing responses to COVID-19, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric...
Articles"Data security best practices for licensed lenders' telework" by Sherry-Maria Safchuk and James C. Chou (Law360)
State-licensed/registered brokers, lenders and servicers have increased their focus on data security as the spread of COVID-19 has extended work-from-home orders, and what now seems to be a lasting acceptance of remote work means that the tools used to secure data will remain relevant when the...
Articles"Budding decentralized finance industry comes with risks" by Ali M. Abugheida (Law360)
The sudden rise of Compound Labs Inc.'s COMP governance token in recent months pushed decentralized finance into the headlines, raising the profile of blockchain-based finance systems to a more mainstream audience. This article provides a short primer on decentralized finance and discusses some of...
Articles"Educational tools may bring regulatory risk for fintech cos." by H Joshua Kotin, Michelle L. Rogers, and Kathryn R. Goodman (Law360)
Financial services providers are increasingly combining delivery of products and services with advice designed to help consumers make better-informed financial decisions. Fintech companies, which typically rely upon data and analytics as fundamental components of their business proposition, should...
Articles"What constitutes reasonable security per Calif. privacy law?" by Amanda R. Lawrence, Michael A. Rome, and James C. Chou (Law360)
California Consumer Privacy Act compliance has been focused on developing the policies, procedures and infrastructure to support new privacy rights for California residents, which include, among other things, the right to know what personal information companies have on them, the right to delete...
Articles"Accurate FCRA reporting during Covid-19" by Marshall T. Bell and Jessica L. Pollet (Bloomberg Law)
As financial institutions respond to a flurry of regulatory recommendations and mandates in response to the Covid-19 crisis, those relating to consumer reporting may be among the most difficult to decipher and operationalize. Federal and state authorities have made it clear that they expect...
Articles"TCPA relief for Covid-19 communications could extend to financial institutions" by Ali M. Abugheida and Geoffrey L. Warner (Bloomberg Law)
Financial institutions face unprecedented and rapidly evolving challenges in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the need to communicate quickly and efficiently with customers in the face of government-issued stay-at-home orders. But the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, with its steep...
Articles"Ruling on anti-hacking law may guide fair lending tests" by Jeffrey P. Naimon and H Joshua Kotin (Law360)
Regulators, consumer groups, academics and private litigants are grappling with the fair lending implications of the credit models powering the explosive growth in online lending by banks and financial technology firms. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in late March concluded...
Articles"Financial regulators’ dilemma: Administrative and regulatory hurdles to innovation" by Jeremiah S. Buckley and Sasha Leonhardt (George Washington University Law School: Business & Finance Law Review)
Developments in financial technology hold great promise to enhance the quality, delivery, and reach of consumer financial services. However, many of the laws dictating the operations of financial regulators are more than 50 years old, and in drafting these laws Congress understandably did not...
Articles"Preparing for private right of action under Calif. privacy law" by Amanda R. Lawrence and Michael A. Rome (Law360)
The California Consumer Privacy Act went into effect at the beginning of this year, and while the California attorney general will not begin enforcing it until July, the private right of action that the CCPA created is available to consumers now. The CCPA expressly provides for a private right of...
ArticlesSpecial Alert: CARES Act places significant burdens on servicers of consumer debt but provides some relief to depositories
President Trump late last week signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act that attempts to soften the negative economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on consumers, including by suspending payments for certain student loan borrowers and enabling mortgage loan borrowers to...
Special AlertsSpecial Alert: Fed’s new facilities offer hundreds of billions of dollars to businesses and issuers of credit for consumer and business debt
On March 23, the Federal Reserve announced that it is establishing and expanding a number of facilities to provide powerful support for the flow of credit to large U.S. employers and other businesses and families in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The Fed’s facilities and related actions are...
Special AlertsSpecial Alert: Trailer bill would enact California Consumer Financial Protection Law
A trailer bill accompanying the governor’s proposed 2020-2021 state budget would expand the Department of Business Oversight’s (DBO) authority and enact the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (Law). Specifically, the provisions outlined in the proposed Law would revamp and rename the...
Special Alerts
News & Blogs
9th Circuit reverses ruling in FDCPA case
On June 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a district court’s finding that an obligation for a rental property cannot be “primarily consumer in nature” under the FDCPA. The plaintiff and his wife purchased two properties in the same community in Arizona. The plaintiff and...
InfoBytesDistrict Court says disputed tradeline is not misleading
On June 8, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama granted a defendant auto finance company’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in an action concerning alleged violations of the FCRA. The plaintiff filed an action against the defendants (an auto finance company and a financial...
InfoBytesBank reaches auto loan settlement
On June 8, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California preliminarily approved a class action settlement , resolving allegations that a national bank failed to properly refund payments made pursuant to guaranteed asset protection waiver (GAP Waiver) agreements entered into in...
InfoBytesGAO reports on CFPB fair lending activities
Last month, the Government Accountability Office delivered a report at the request of Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) on the CFPB’s oversight and enforcement of fair lending laws after the agency’s 2018 reorganization which moved the Office of Fair Lending and Equal...
InfoBytesCFPB to address racial equality
On June 2, CFPB acting Director Dave Uejio published a blog post highlighting Bureau efforts to address issues regarding racial injustice and the long-term economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on consumers. In January, as previously covered by InfoBytes , Uejio released a statement announcing...
InfoBytesFed winding down Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility
On June 2, the Federal Reserve Board announced plans to wind down the portfolio of the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF), a temporary emergency lending facility that was established and provided by the Treasury Department under the CARES Act, which closed in December 2020. The...
InfoBytesHawaii Supreme Court: Bank bears burden of establishing borrower’s alleged default
On May 28, the Hawaii Supreme Court vacated summary judgment in favor of a national bank, ruling that the “bank seeking to foreclose on a mortgage and note” did not meet its “burden of establishing that the borrower defaulted under the terms of the agreements.” The bank sought a judicial...
InfoBytes11th Circuit: Insurance firm not required to pay broker’s $60 million TCPA judgment
On June 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that an insurance firm is not required to pay a $60.4 million TCPA judgment arising out of a Florida-based insurance broker’s marketing campaign accused of sending unsolicited text messages and phone calls to consumers. The broker...
InfoBytesCFPB releases unauthorized EFTs and error resolution FAQs
On June 4, the CFPB released eight new FAQs regarding compliance with the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) and Regulation E. Highlights from the FAQs are listed below: As explained by the commentary to Regulation E, unauthorized electronic funds transfers (EFTs) include transfers by a person who...
InfoBytesFDIC announces West Virginia disaster relief
On June 1, the FDIC issued FIL-38-2021 to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and help facilitate recovery in areas of West Virginia affected by severe storms. The FDIC acknowledged the unusual circumstances faced by institutions affected by the storms and suggested that...
InfoBytes
Press Releases & Announcements
Buckley recognized by Chambers USA for consumer financial services, white collar practices
Chambers USA named Buckley LLP a nationwide Band 1 firm in all consumer finance categories in its 2021 rankings, recognizing nine of its partners in those practices — more than any other firm in the country. The firm received top recognition in Consumer Finance Compliance, Consumer...
AnnouncementsLegal 500 2020 recognizes 21 Buckley attorneys in six practice areas
“Buckley attorneys are incredibly responsive while providing top quality legal services,” is how respondents described the firm in the 2020 edition of Legal 500, which ranked Buckley as a top law firm and recognized it in six categories:
- Corporate Investigations and White ...
Buckley recognized by Chambers USA as a “top-notch” firm in financial services and white collar work
Buckley has once again received top recognition in financial services regulation, white collar crime/government investigations, and fintech from Chambers USA, which ranks the country’s leading firms and lawyers in a range of practice areas based on research and client interviews....
AnnouncementsThe Legal 500 2019 recognizes 17 Buckley attorneys in five practice areas
The Legal 500 once again ranked Buckley as a top law firm and recognized it in five categories:
- Corporate Investigations and White Collar Criminal Defense: Corporate – Tier 4
- Corporate Investigations and White Collar Criminal Defense: Individuals – Tier 2 ...
Buckley recognized by Chambers USA as a “first-rate firm” in financial services; “crème de la crème” for White Collar practice
Buckley has once again received top recognition in financial services regulation and white collar crime/government investigations from Chambers USA, which ranks the country’s leading firms and lawyers in a range of practice areas based on research and client interviews.
In total...
AnnouncementsThe Legal 500 2018 recognizes five practice areas and 17 attorneys at Buckley Sandler
Buckley Sandler LLP again has been noted as one of the nation’s top law firms by The Legal 500 in its 2018 rankings, with recognition in five practice areas:
- Financial Services: Litigation
- Financial Services: Regulation
- Corporate ...
Buckley Sandler recognized by Chambers USA as “an excellent firm” with “a fine stable of expert attorneys”
Buckley Sandler once again has received top recognition in financial services regulation and white collar crime/government investigations from Chambers USA, which ranks the country’s leading firms and lawyers in a range of practice areas by researching the firms and interviewing...
AnnouncementsBuckley Sandler launches APPROVED licensing service
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 7, 2018) – Buckley Sandler LLP today formally announced the launch of APPROVED , a new approach to licensing for financial services companies. Buckley Sandler is building upon years of financial services experience and licensing know-how to offer APPROVED, a technology-...
Press ReleasesThe Legal 500 2017 Recognizes Four Practice Areas and 20 Attorneys at Buckley Sandler
Buckley Sandler has again been cited as one of the nation’s top law firms by The Legal 500 in its 2017 rankings, with the recognition of four practice areas:
- Financial Services: Litigation
- Financial Services: Regulatory
- Cyber Law (Data Protection and ...
Our Consumer Finance Team
Partners
FYI
"The pendulum always swings twice: Disparate impact under the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations" by Jeffrey P. Naimon and Sasha Leonhardt (American Bar Association Consumer Financial Services Committee Newsletter)
"CFPB order offers insight into pandemic mortgage servicing" by Jeffrey P. Naimon and H Joshua Kotin (Law360)
"CFPB credit stance has broad specialty finance implications" by Jeffrey P. Naimon and H Joshua Kotin (Law360)