All in Regulatory Update

On November 14, 2024, the CFPB took action against Global Tel Link (GTL) for illegally taking millions of dollars from over 500,000 accounts and blocking money transfers to incarcerated consumers, who depend on the funds for essentials like food, medicine, and clothing. The CFPB ordered GTL and its subsidiaries to stop their illegal practices, pay at least $2 million in redress to victims, and pay a $1 million penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

On November 13, 2024, the Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS) announced the expansion of FedDetect Duplicate Notification for Check Services to include commercial checks, alongside its existing Treasury check notification service. Financial institutions can now see deposit information and images of potential duplicate items for commercial checks, supplementing their existing check fraud mitigation tools.

On November 13, 2024, the CFPB released a study revealing significant disparities in how lenders treat Black and white small business owners seeking loans. The study was a result of a matched-pair testing conducted by the CFPB and the DOJ to test for and detect differential treatment of fictitious well-qualified Black and white small business owners seeking credit at large bank lenders in two counties.

On November 13, 2024, FinCEN issued a notice and request for comments on the proposed information collection associated with the requirement to report information about certain residential real estate transfers, as required by the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Residential Real Estate Transfers final rule published on August 29, 2024. Comments will be accepted until January 13, 2025.

On November 13, 2024, FinCEN issued an alert to help financial institutions identify fraud schemes associated with the use of deepfake media created with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools. The alert explains typologies associated with these schemes, provides red flag indicators to assist with identifying and reporting related suspicious activity, and reminds financial institutions of their reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act.

On November 12, 2024, the CFPB published a report ‘State Consumer Privacy Laws and the Monetization of Consumer Financial Data” which summarizes the state laws that give consumers more control over their data, how these rights complement the protections under federal law, and the gaps in protection that result from state law exemptions for financial institutions subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). 

On November 5, 2024, the FTC took action against online cash advance app Dave for allegedly using misleading marketing to deceive consumers about the amount of its cash advances, charging consumers undisclosed fees, and charging so-called “tips” to consumers without their consent. Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said that Dave lured in consumers living paycheck-to-paycheck with false claims of big-dollar advances, then reached into their pockets to give itself a so-called ‘tip’.

On November 4, 2024, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a final rule revising the National Flood Insurance Program’s  (NFIP) regulations to offer NFIP policyholders the option of paying their annual flood insurance premium in monthly installments. The NFIP is a voluntary program in which interested persons can purchase flood insurance for their property if it is located in a community that participates in the NFIP by adopting and enforcing a set of minimum floodplain management requirements to reduce future flood damages.

On November 1, 2024, the CFPB filed a proposed order to resolve its case against Townstone Financial for discriminatory lending practices and redlining African American neighborhoods in Chicago. The proposed order would prohibit Townstone from taking any actions that violate the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and require the company to pay a $105,000 penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.