Consumer Crossroads: Where Financial Services and Litigation Intersect

As of January 1, 2024, the Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions (OFI) is accepting registration of private education lenders. This registration requirement is applicable to nonexempt businesses making or holding private education loans and is the result of the passage of the Louisiana Private Student Loan Registry law.

A highly contested and controversial legal defense to residential foreclosures in Maine resurfaced earlier this month with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court's decision in Finch v. U.S. Bank, N.A.

On February 28th, 2023, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two related cases, Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown, both of which challenge President Biden's one-time student loan forgiveness program.

An important resource for financial services compliance professionals has been updated. The Fifth Edition of the 50 State Guide on Student Loan Servicing Laws is a quick reference guide and resource for student loan industry participants regarding enacted state laws, and pending or previously introduced legislation.

In its recent Special Edition of Supervisory Highlights on COVID-19 Prioritized Assessments, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) summarized challenges and risks with respect to several industries it had informally examined since the start of the pandemic. Beginning in May 2020, the Bureau rescheduled about half of its planned examinations and instead conducted "prioritized assessments" in response to the pandemic. These assessments included seeking information on how institutions were responding and communicating with consumers, and also examining how institutions were confronting and adapting compliance in response to the pandemic.

An important resource for financial services compliance professionals has been updated. The Fourth Edition of the 50 State Guide on Student Loan Servicing Regulations is a quick reference guide and resource for student loan servicers regarding the regulations specific to the industry, along with pending legislation, litigation, and court rulings.

The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in unprecedented job loss for millions of Americans, creating economic uncertainty and challenges for loan servicers in 2020. Until the outbreak is controlled, missed payments on mortgages and student loans are likely to increase. Already, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) have issued 60 day moratoriums on foreclosures and evictions, which some states—and most banks and mortgage loan servicers—have adopted. Meanwhile, the Department of Education has announced that all borrowers with federal loans will have their interest rates automatically set at 0% for at least 60 days. Late Wednesday night, the Senate passed H.R. 748, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) after senate leadership reached an agreement with the White House earlier in the week. The legislation now moves to the House of Representatives for what many hope is unanimous consent. While we are still waiting on the House of Representative's approval, we've explored measures within the bill that will immediately impact student and mortgage loan servicers and outlined them below.

In response to challenges facing the financial services industry as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19), New York's Department of Financial Services (DFS) has issued a COVID-19 compliance order, along with a series of industry guidance letters related to the organizational preparedness of regulated institutions to manage risks associated with the outbreak.

We recently reported on a Fifth Circuit decision that ruled some private, for-profit student loans are dischargeable in bankruptcy without a showing of undue hardship—something unusual and inconsistent with the widely-held belief that student loans are rarely discharged. It turns out that the Fifth Circuit's decision may have initiated a trend, for both private and federal loans.

Many student loan borrowers, lenders, and servicers operate under the presumption that student loans are generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy, absent an "undue hardship." That notion may no longer be a bright line rule, following a recent ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court ruled that certain private, for-profit student loans can in fact be discharged without the borrower providing a showing of undue hardship. This decision is particularly notable as private, for-profit student loans—including loans to cover increasing tuition costs not covered by federal loans, refinance loans, and consolidation loans—continue to see increased use.

An important resource for financial services compliance professionals just received a new update. The Third Edition of the 50 State Guide on Student Loan Servicing Regulations—a quick reference guide and resource for student loan servicers regarding the regulations specific to the industry, along with pending legislation, litigation, and court rulings—now also includes language of the rules implementing state student loan servicer laws.

After much anticipation, Senate bill 2155—which rolls back major aspects of the Dodd-Frank law—was approved by Congress and was signed into law by President Trump.

The year of 2017 was highly volatile for the consumer financial services industry and featured significant court rulings, regulatory changes, and other developments.

The Headlines

Yesterday, the Illinois House of Representatives voted 98-16 to override Governor Bruce Rauner's veto of the Illinois Student Loan Bill of Rights. The IL student loan bill provides for the licensing of student loan servicers and imposes numerous, detailed requirements concerning the servicing of student loans. Among other things, the bill sets forth certain information that must be provided to borrowers, some of which must be provided through a trained repayment specialist. Non-exempt servicers have until December, 2018 to become compliant. Illinois is the 4th jurisdiction to create such a law, following Connecticut, California and the District of Columbia.

A growing number of employers are offering student loan repayment assistance as a means of attracting and retaining talent. Industries like tech, financial services, and health services are among the early adopters, offering variations of the same general benefit:  the employer agrees to pay a certain amount—either a set figure or a percentage of salary—toward their employee’s student loan debt. Since student loan repayment benefits are relatively novel, the rules for both employers offering the benefit, and the student loan servicers administering it, are not yet explicit.

This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its June 2017 complaint report. The format is different than usual. Normally, the report spotlights complaints from a particular industry and state. This month, the report provides a state by state overview of what consumers are complaining about across the country. You can see the top 5 industries receiving complaints by volume and quarterly percent change for each state.

While most mainstream media outlets are pulling a Jan Brady and reporting "Comey, Comey, Comey," the consumer financial services community should be chewing on a different name right now: "Chopra, Chopra, Chopra."

The student lending industry should pay close attention to the onslaught of litigation that mortgage loan servicers have faced for years. I recently authored an article on this topic for Law360. A Consumer Federation of America analysis has indicated that student loan defaults have risen at least 14 percent since 2015. Such a trend will likely make student lending market participants susceptible to increased regulatory scrutiny, and could also result in a spike in follow-on private litigation.