We leverage our substantive knowledge and our enforcement and litigation experience to help clients navigate challenging consumer financial matters from inception to resolution. Our lawyers regularly defend banks; non-bank lenders; fintechs; servicers; retailers; debt collectors; data aggregators; payment processors; consumer credit data companies, their parent companies, directors, officers, and employees; and service providers in a broad range of enforcement investigations and pre-litigation disputes.
We advise on every stage of the process from handling market reviews, civil investigative demands, and negotiations with agency officials regarding prospective or actual enforcement actions to litigating before federal judges and appealing agency decisions. We have deep experience handling enforcement actions brought by key consumer financial services regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB); the Federal Trade Commission (FTC); the Department of Justice (DOJ); as well as prudential regulators, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, and state banking agencies (such as the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, the New York Department of Financial Institutions, and the state attorneys general in consumer protection-focused states).
Our work in sensitive enforcement matters builds on our status as a trusted advisor to the industry, paired with demonstrated credibility before regulators and consumer advocates, as well as relationships with class action counsel. Our credibility among stakeholders with diverse ‒ and, at times, polarized ‒ viewpoints sets us apart in terms of the services we offer and the results we are able to accomplish for our clients. Our deep-seated credibility is based upon having personally been in the trenches, given our past government service and industry engagements, with leaders on all points of the spectrum in consumer finance, including industry; advocates; academia; agencies like the CFPB, FTC, or DOJ; and key committees of Congress, including House Financial Services and Senate Banking. We draw upon our technical knowledge of consumer financial protection regulations, as well as our wide-ranging relationships to deliver holistic, pragmatic, and outcome-based solutions for clients on their most pressing consumer finance investigatory, examination, or litigation matters. We have unique experience based on our knowledge and skill set, pertinent to the following areas:
- Demand deposit accounts
- Mortgage origination and servicing
- Stored value cards and electronic funds transfers
- Payment processing
- Credit cards and lines of credit
- Unsecured loans
- Auto finance
- Consumer credit reporting and data privacy
- Financial inclusion and fair lending/disparate impact
- The use of novel technology to achieve social good in the digital economy
- Accounts receivables management
- Online lending and lead generation
- Data aggregators (API providers)
- Short-term, small-dollar lending
- Retail installment loans
- Buy now, pay later
- Earned wage access
- Student loan servicing
- Income share agreements
- Online bill paying and mobile banking
- Bank/fintech partnerships
- Alternative data credit underwriting
- Cybersecurity and safeguards rule
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Coordinated investigations by multiple agencies
- Emerging issues and class actions seeking to establish new precedents
- Open banking and consumer data access rights
- Sales practices, including incentive compensation and risk management
Approach to CFPB and other regulators. Our activity in CFPB matters spans regulatory counseling, rulemaking advocacy, enforcement investigations, supervisory examinations, litigation, and public policy engagement. We have experience assisting clients with every silo within the CFPB. Our ability to be effective for our clients in any CFPB matter is due to our knowledge of the workings of the CFPB, our continued relationships with officials in the agency, and our substantive knowledge of the applicable regulations and agency protocols. We have been, and continue to be, called upon regularly by American Banker, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, American Lawyer, and other media outlets to provide insight and commentary on hot topics involving the CFPB. In addition, one of our team members served as the lead co-editor of the first-ever treatise of its kind, Consumer Finance Law: Understanding Consumer Financial Services Regulations (American Bar Association 2021).
