Businesses in the US will be subject to a lot more scrutiny from consumers and regulators in 2025. With eight new data privacy laws going into effect over the course of the year, attorneys general will be eager to show they’re not all talk, privacy advocacy groups will be encouraging residents to exercise their rights, and consumers will (slowly but surely) begin supporting the businesses that respect their privacy—and avoiding the ones that don’t.
In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, host Chris Willis is joined by Jesse Silverman and Matt Morris to explore the complexities of the CFPB's nonbank registry rule. This regulation, introduced in 2024, has generated significant confusion due to its intricate requirements. They discuss the rule's purpose, its impact on nonbank financial services, and the detailed steps companies must take to ensure compliance.
Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued Comerica Bank for systematically failing its 3.4 million Direct Express cardholders - primarily unbanked Americans receiving federal benefits. The bank deliberately disconnected 24 million customer service calls, impeding cardholders from exercising their rights under the law, charged illegal ATM fees to over 1 million cardholders, and mishandled fraud complaints while providing federal benefits through the Direct Express prepaid debit card program.
The Federal Trade Commission is sending payments totaling nearly $500,000 to consumers who were harmed by home security company Vivint Smart Homes, Inc., which allegedly misused credit reports to help unqualified customers get financing for the company’s products and services.
Yesterday, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and state financial regulators issued a joint statement to provide covered financial institutions with strategies and examples of effective risk management and other practices to identify, prevent, and respond to elder financial exploitation.
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