All in Regulatory Update

On 6/4/2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released two issuances for public comment: a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) and an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR). The NPR would update the OCC’s rule for national banks and federal savings association activities and operations while the ANPR is seeking comment on rules on national banks’ and federal savings associations’ digital activities.

On 6/3/2020, the CFPB issued a statement on supervisory and enforcement practices regarding electronic credit card disclosures in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bureau explained in their release that they issued this statement to provide temporary and targeted flexibility for credit card issuers regarding electronic provision of certain disclosures required to be in writing during this pandemic. The Bureau also explained that this supervisory and enforcement flexibility will facilitate credit card issuers’ ability to quickly assist consumers during the pandemic.

On 6/2/2020, the CFPB announced a settlement with Main Street Personal Finance, Inc. and its subsidiaries which are based in Cleveland, Tennessee and offer payday and auto-title loans. The Bureau found that Approved Cash provided deceptive finance charge disclosures by failing to refund overpayments on its loans, and violated laws by engaging in unfair debt collection practices.

Specifically, the Bureau found that Approved Cash violated the CFPA’s prohibition against engaging in deceptive acts or practices and TILA by concealing and understating the actual finance charges of its auto-title loans for over 4,000 consumers, who paid a total of over $3.5 million more than the finance charge listed in Approved Cash’s loan disclosures. The Bureau also found…

In late June of 2020, the NCUA announced that it was delaying the start of it phased resumption of onsite operations. According the the NCUA, the delay was warranted based on factors like recent trends in public health data and administrative considerations. The agency explained that they will continue offsite examinations as they have done for the last several months.

On 5/22/2020, the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued two interim final rules implementing the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The first interim final rule provides requirements for loan forgiveness while the second explains the SBA loan review procedures and related borrower and lender responsibilities.

On 5/22/2020, the CFPB - jointly with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey - filed a lawsuit against Commonwealth Equity Group, LLC, (which does business as Key Credit Repair) and Nikitas Tsoukales, Key Credit Repair’s president and owner. The complaint issued by the CFPB and Attorney General alleges that in their telemarketing of credit-repair services, the defendants violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s prohibition against deceptive acts or practices and the Telemarketing Sales Rule’s prohibitions on deceptive and abusive telemarketing acts or practices.