While the debate continues about whether the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the authority to make rules governing antitrust or competition law issues, on March 25, Acting FTC Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter announced the creation of a new group focused, in part, on new rules to prohibit unfair or deceptive practices and unfair methods of
On March 24, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) provided the Consumer Response 2020 Annual Report (CFPB Report) to Congress. The CFPB Report reflects complaints submitted by consumers to the CFPB and analyzes those complaints.
In 2020, the CFPB saw a 54% rise in complaints from 2019 — with the total number increasing from 352,400
On March 25, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) released an article reflecting on its work in 2020. The following are some of the most notable actions of the FTC in 2020:
On March 22, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Lina Khan to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Khan is an outspoken critic of big tech and a former legal advisor to FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra, Biden’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Khan’s anticipated nomination again
On March 3, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a complaint in the Northern District of Illinois against a third-party payment processor, BrightSpeed Solutions, Inc., and its founder and former CEO Kevin Howard. The CFPB’s complaint alleges that the defendants violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) and the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and
On March 18, Opportunity Financial, Inc. (OppFi) — a Chicago-based platform lender — announced that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is investigating its compliance with the Military Lending Act. The announcement — coupled with several others like it in recent months — confirms that the CFPB is closely monitoring fintechs.
OppFi is a consumer
Over the past several years, the Democratic commissioners of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have made clear their dissatisfaction with the agency’s historic treatment of pharmaceutical mergers. Now, it appears that the FTC has launched a process aimed at changing the way in which such transactions are analyzed and ultimately resolved.
Past dissenting statements
On March 15, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced that the California Office of Administrative Law approved his fourth set of proposed modifications to the California Consumer Privacy Act’s (CCPA) implementing regulations (Fourth Set of Modifications), completing the finalization process.
In announcing the approval of the Fourth Set of Modifications, Attorney General Becerra
On March 11, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it is rescinding a January 2020 policy statement that limited the “abusive acts and practices” standard created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. By rescinding the policy statement, the CFPB — under the direction of Acting Director Dave Uejio — signals a return to the
On February 23, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a statement that it planned to propose a rule to “delay the July 1, 2021 mandatory compliance date of the General QM Final Rule.” Consistent with that, the CFPB announced a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on March 3, which would push back the current