Consumers With Complaints Flock to CFPB

From: The Wall Street Journal

Consumer-finance agency’s complaint portal generates results—and controversy

By Yuka Hayashi

***

Some industry officials and Republican lawmakers say the database is rife with inaccurate information and doesn’t protect consumer privacy. The effort, some say, exemplifies government overreach, increases company expenses and undermines companies’ own procedures for handling customer complaints.

Grumbling intensified last year when the CFPB started publishing the narratives of complaints, a step that opponents say Congress didn’t authorize.

Read Complete Article

A Case of Regulatory Evolution: A Review of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s Approach to Crowdfunding

From: CrowdfundInsider

By

Across Europe, crowdfunding is quickly moving from a fringe funding instrument to becoming a mainstream – finance channel, connecting “crowds” to fund businesses, projects and individuals. In its recently published Report on Crowdfunding in the EU Capital Markets Union, the European Commission details the importance of crowdfunding as “an important source of non-bank financing in support of job creation, economic growth and competitiveness” (European Commission 2016). While there remains no harmonised regulatory framework applicable to crowdfunding across Europe, individual mem- ber states have adopted national regulatory approaches to supervise crowdfunding activities – “tailoring their regulatory frameworks to the characteristics and needs of local markets and investors, which results in differences on how the rules are designed and implemented” (European Commission 2016, 4-5). This article will focus on the regulatory regime in the United Kingdom that regulates and supervises online alternative finance activities that fall under the crowdfunding umbrella.

District Court Judge Delays Decision in State National Bank’s Case Against CFPB

From: ACA International

The decision is pending until a similar case from PHH Corp. challenging the constitutionality of the CFPB’s leadership structure and authority is resolved.

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle in Washington, D.C. is delaying a decision in a case by State National Bank in Big Spring Texas that challenges the constitutionality of the leadership structure at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The delay is connected to a pending decision in a similar case PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 15-1177, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, focusing on the CFPB’s leadership structure, according to the article.

Will Installment Loans Get Painted with CFPB’s Payday Brush?

From: American Banker

Installment lenders are concerned that efforts by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to curb the most abusive and predatory practices associated with payday loans will wreak havoc on their business.

Read Complete Article (paywall)