LendingClub’s Radius deal paves the way for more fintech purchases, experts say

LendingClub wanted a quicker route to becoming a bank, so it opened up its wallet and decided to buy one.    The online credit marketplace announced Tuesday it is buying Boston-based Radius Bank in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $185 million. The fintech, which had been mulling various paths to a banking charter for the last year, says acquiring the online bank will provide greater regulatory clarity and cheaper funding for its loans

It’s Spring Training Time for Auditors

Resource Management Services, Inc. announces it's program for Spring Training for auditors and compliance oversight professionals with the Oversight Without Travel Series.  Launched to date are the Call Monitoring course (approximately 1.5 hours) and the Compliance Management Systems course (approximately 4 hours).  Expect to see Financial Auditing and Bank Accounts in the very near future.  Web-based, self-paced courses, without travel - get 50% off your spring training in now with code "Spring".  Save even more with the two-course bundle.  Get ready for the audit season now with our Spring training special. Check it out at rms-training.thinkific.com

Lawmakers call out big banks for lack of leadership diversity

Diversity and inclusion strategies at big banks need an upgrade, House lawmakers concluded in a recent report, and the onus is on executives to drive those efforts.   "There is no shortage of diverse people and businesses for banks to hire and promote. Just a shortage of leaders, including bank leaders, with the will to make it happen," said Rep. Al Green, D-TX, in a statement.

Predatory Lender Offering “Vehicle Title Pawns” Ordered to Pay More Than $2.2 Million to Maryland Consumers

BALTIMORE, MD (February 21, 2020) – Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh announced today that his Consumer Protection Division has issued a Final Order against CashN-Go, Inc., Brent M. Jackson, and related businesses owned and operated by Jackson under the “Cash-N-Go” name for making unlicensed and usurious consumer loans. Although Cash-N-Go claimed that they were entering into pawn transactions with consumers, the Division found that Cash-N-Go was instead making illegal consumer loans with interest rates of 360%.

FTC Staff Provides Annual Letter to CFPB On Equal Credit Opportunity Act Activities

The staff of the Federal Trade Commission has provided the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) with an annual summary of its activities enforcing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA).   The FTC is responsible for ECOA enforcement and education regarding most non-bank financial service providers. In its summary, FTC staff describes the Commission’s work on ECOA-related issues, including activities addressed in research and policy development such as:

Gen Z is Leading the Way to Alternative Payment Options

Millennials are often seen as the most digitally savvy generation, but they were actually raised during a time when the internet was still nascent technology. In contrast, Generation Z, or those who were born between 1995 and 2015, grew up with smartphones for toys — and it is for this reason that they’re nicknamed the iGeneration. And when it comes to payments, it’s this population of young digital natives that are demanding newer and more technologically advanced options. In 2018, CO-OP Chief Product Officer Bruce Dragt covered the basics of alternative payment methods (APMs), which are helping us transition to a cashless society. As the name suggests, APMs offer payment options other than the traditional cash-based or credit card systems already in place. While different APMs target different age brackets and types of consumers, a significantly wider adoption is observed among Gen Zers.

NCR: How FIs Can Triumph Over the Challenger Bank Challenge

For traditional financial institutions (FIs), especially smaller FIs and credit unions (CUs), the age of disruption is here. Digital banks are poised to lure consumers away from the JPMorgans, the Citibanks, the Wells Fargos of the world, as digital-centric offerings prove too tempting to resist, sweetened with higher interest rates on deposits, easy-to-use apps, speed and convenience. Maybe not. As Douglas Brown, senior vice president and general manager of NCR Corporation, told Karen Webster in a recent interview, the concept of just what a bank is — and whether challenger banks actually represent an existential threat — is due for a reassessment.

CFPB Event: Evolutions in Consumer Debt Relief

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will host a day-long convening, 'Evolutions in Consumer Debt Relief.' The event will explore options for consumers facing unmanageable unsecured debt and limited credit options.
The event will explore options for consumers facing unmanageable unsecured debt and limited credit options. Panelists include representation from creditors, consumer advocates, and bankruptcy experts, as well as providers of debt settlement, debt management, and credit counseling services.  See link for registration info and more.  Also, will be live streamed.

Lawsuit: 30,000 borrowers are being charged for student loans that were already discharged

An estimated 30,000 student loan borrowers thought their private loans were discharged when they declared bankruptcy years ago — but their student loan lender, Navient, disagreed.   Navient continued collecting for those loans, and now the borrowers are suing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York.

CRS2020 ANNOUNCES A NEW SESSION “FIRESIDE CHAT BOOTH-SIDE”

Get the buzz and latest info with these 5-minute quick topics at designated booths. Mini agenda to come. In the last 25 minutes the Exhibit Hall is open, scheduled small group “Fireside Chat Booth-Side” topics are five minutes each, some conflicting, so check your times and topics. 

Our Current Fireside Chat Booth-Side Presenters are:
ConServe Booth 33
PayNearMe Booth 28
RevSpring Booth 25
Ryan LLC Booth 14
Vertican Technologies, Inc. Booth 30

CFPB to Host Symposium on February 26

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) announced today that it will hold a symposium on Consumer Access to Financial Records and Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act on February 26, 2020, at 9:30 a.m. The event will be webcast on the Bureau’s website.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, South Carolina, and Arkansas File Suit Against Brokers of High-Interest Credit Offers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau), the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs (South Carolina), and Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today filed a lawsuit in federal district court in the District of South Carolina against Candy Kern-Fuller, Howard Sutter III, and Upstate Law Group LLC. The Bureau alleges that the defendants worked with a series of companies that brokered contracts offering high-interest credit to consumers, primarily disabled veterans, and violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s prohibition against deceptive acts or practices and against providing substantial assistance to deceptive and unfair acts or practices of others.

FTC Sending More Than $34 Million in Refunds to Office Depot Customers

The Federal Trade Commission is sending refund checks totaling more than $34 million to consumers who allegedly were tricked by Office Depot, Inc. and a software provider into buying computer repair products and services.  Office Depot paid $25 million while its software supplier, Support.com, Inc., paid $10 million as part of 2019 settlements with the FTC. The FTC alleged that Office Depot and Support.com configured a virus scanning program to report that it found symptoms of malware or infections—even when that was not true—whenever consumers answered yes to at least one of four “diagnostic” questions. The false scan results were then used to persuade consumers to purchase computer repair and technical services that could cost hundreds of dollars.

Morgan Stanley to buy E*Trade for $13B in largest bank takeover since financial crisis

Morgan Stanley is acquiring brokerage firm E*Trade in an all-stock transaction valued at around $13 billion, the two companies announced Thursday.   The deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020, is the largest deal by a major Wall Street bank since the 2007-08 financial crisis. E*Trade has over 5.2 million client accounts with over $360 billion of retail client assets, adding to Morgan Stanley’s existing 3 million client relationships and $2.7 trillion of client assets, the companies said in a release.

Attorney General Frosh Joins Coalition Supporting Bipartisan Legislation Limiting Forum Shopping in Corporate Bankruptcy Filings

BALTIMORE, MD (February 20, 2020) – Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh today joined a bipartisan coalition of 42 state and territory attorneys general in supporting H.R. 4421, the Bankruptcy Venue Reform Act of 2019, bipartisan legislation that will prevent a corporation from filing for bankruptcy in a District that it believes would be more favorable on issues to the  debtor’s advantage—a practice known as “forum shopping”—when the corporation’s principal place of business or assets are located in a different district, which imposes a burden on states and other creditors who may have to travel and incur significant expenses to pursue their claims.

CFPB Identifies Mortgage Servicing Violations

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has released its Winter 2020 edition of its Supervisory Highlights. discussing the Bureau’s examinations findings in the areas of debt collection, mortgage servicing, payday lending, and student loan servicing that were completed between April 2019 and August 2019.

California’s ‘Mini-CFPB’—Gov. Newsom’s Budget Proposal Forecasts Significant Expansion of Consumer Financial Services Oversight and Enforcement in the Golden State

California is poised to join the growing cadre of states enhancing their consumer financial protection functions in response to perceived decreasing federal oversight and enforcement under the Trump administration. Following similar initiatives by Governors and Attorneys General in states along the eastern seaboard from New York to Virginia, Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2020–21 budget (Proposal) set forth his vision for consumer financial protection in California.

CRS2020 EXHIBITOR AND “FIRESIDE CHAT BOOTH-SIDE” PRESENTER – CONSERVE

We are happy to announce that ConServe will exhibit at the Collection and Recovery Solutions Conference, May 6-8 in Las Vegas, NV at the Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas.  Not only is ConServe exhibiting but they are also a presenter at our newest event, Fireside Chat Booth-Side presentation.  Be sure to visit them in booth 33 in the Expo Hall.

For over 34 years, ConServe’s innovative collection approach has helped our Clients maximize recoveries and reduce pre and post charge-off accounts. Our unique synergy of analytics-driven technologies and skilled collection experts optimizes collection results, increasing your return on investment.

Car loan company lays off 137 people, its entire Anaheim staff

Gateway One Lending & Finance, which services car loans for consumers, is closing its Anaheim office and laying off all 137 of its workers, according to a notice filed with the state.   The company informed the state Employment Development Department in a letter received Feb. 3 that the last day for the workers will be April 3. The layoffs will affect the entire workforce at the Riverview Drive office.

LendingClub buys Radius Bank for $185 million in first fintech takeover of a regulated US bank

LendingClub, a fintech company that pioneered personal loans made online, is buying a U.S. bank to give it access to a stable and cheaper source of funding, CNBC has learned.   LendingClub is paying $185 million in cash and stock for Radius Bancorp, according to documents viewed by CNBC. Radius, a Boston-based online bank with about $1.4 billion in assets, is among a cohort of small lenders that have partnered with fintech firms who need the services of an FDIC-regulated institution.

Debt Buying Roundtable at CRS2020 – Althoff and Sangalang Lead

Collection and Recovery Solutions 2020 is happy to announce that Marian Sangalang, Vice President, The Bureaus, Inc. and Sherri Althoff, VP Collections at Alliance Data will provide their insights in a small group discussion at CRS2020 on Friday, May 8th on Debt Buying & Selling.  Join this roundtable to hear more about what is currently happening in the market or about market possibilities in the future.  This discussion will include best practices for the Debt Purchasing and Debt Sales Market.  CRS2020 is an invitation-only event for creditors to be held May 6th - 8th at the Four Seasons in Las Vegas.  Originating creditors can request an invitation at crs@resourcemanagement.com

CardWorks Announces Acquisition by Ally Financial.

WOODBURY, N.Y., Feb. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardholder Management Services, Inc. ("CardWorks"), a leading non-prime credit card and consumer finance lender with a full-spectrum unsecured servicing platform and robust merchant services capabilities, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) in a transaction valued in excess of $2.65 billion, subject to final closing equity and other adjustments.

NAFCU to CFPB: Consider costs, exemption under small biz data collection rule

While the CFPB works to assess compliance costs that would be incurred under Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which remains unimplemented and requires collection of small business lending information, NAFCU Senior Counsel for Research and Policy Andrew Morris again urged the bureau to exempt credit unions from a future rulemaking.

CRS2020 IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT TELROCK WILL EXHIBIT AT THIS YEAR’S CONFERENCE

We are happy to announce that Telrock will exhibitor at the Collection and Recovery Solutions Conference, May 6-8 in Las Vegas, NV at the Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas.  Be sure to visit them in booth 21 in the Expo Hall.

Telrock is an emerging technology leader of modern SaaS based consumer collection & recovery management software, called Optimus, built new from the ground-up for collections organizations that want to move to the next level of performance. Telrock leverages modern technology, powerful cloud computing, and more intelligent designs to provide the broadest and richest set of platform capabilities, at an attractive price point.

Fintech Innovation as a Force for Good

Eight of the most progressive minds in finance gathered in New York recently to discuss how fintech innovation and the democratization of data can drive positive societal change, tackle green crime and help work towards a low-carbon future. It’s no overstatement to say that fintech as an industry has the capacity to facilitate transformative good for global society. But there must be willingness from businesses too: To use the tools, to implement the necessary measures, to self-audit. A combined approach could change the world.

Trump’s DOJ urges Supreme Court to keep CFPB up and running

(Reuters) - Facing an existential threat at the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments on March 3 in a constitutional challenge to the unusual structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB has found an unlikely champion. The Trump administration believes that the bureau's lone director is unconstitutionally shielded from accountability to the president, yet the Justice Department’s final brief before oral argument urged the Supreme Court not to issue a ruling that will halt the CFPB’s “critical work."

Eleventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of FDCPA Class Action Relating to Judicial Foreclosure Practices

On February 11, 2020, the United States Circuit Court of Appeal for the Eleventh Circuit issued its opinion in Anderman v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., Case No. 19-13734 regarding the applicability of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) to certain conduct in judicial foreclosure actions. In Anderman, the plaintiffs alleged on behalf of themselves and a class of similarly situated individuals that JPMorgan Chase and its counsel violated the FDCPA by allegedly seeking to collect a debt against the potential heirs of deceased borrowers by naming them in foreclosure complaints. 

HSBC plans to cut 35,000 jobs as profit drops 33%

(CNN Business)HSBC on Tuesday said it would cut around 35,000 jobs and dramatically overhaul its business after its profit plunged by a third in 2019.  The bank plans to reduce its global headcount by roughly 15% to 200,000 over the next three years, a company spokesperson said, although the precise figures have not been finalized.

Royal Bank of Scotland dumps its name in rebrand, deepens climate pledge

The Royal Bank of Scotland revealed plans Friday to rebrand its corporate parent to NatWest Group PLC. Ditching the 293-year-old company name marks an attempt by the bank to distance itself from the reputational blow it suffered during the 2007-08 crisis, when British taxpayers were forced to shoulder a 45 billion-pound ($59.3 billion) bailout. The bank is still 62% government-owned, according to The Guardian.

How fintech has reshaped the business lending process

Fintech is a short form of financial technology. It’s a wave that has turned the financial industry services on its head. Developments in this space have gathered pace in recent years. PWC predictions for 2020 show a wave that’s not about to slow down anytime soon. Nearly every facet of business has been a victim of this disruption: commerce, money transfers, mobile banking, insurance, stock trading, budgeting, to name but a few. Fintech has made inroads in the business lending process too.

Millennial debt is rising in these U.S. cities

Millennials living in certain U.S. metro areas are seeing increases in non-mortgage debt, according to a study by LendingTree, at a time when Americans’ debt is hitting record highs. Auto debt and student loans account for the biggest portion of non-housing debt for millennials, the generation born between 1981 and 1996. A 2019 report by the New York Fed found that millennials have the worst delinquency rates when it comes to auto loans, and outstanding student debt currently stands at $1.6 trillion spread across 44 million borrowers.

Capping interest rates on payday loans leads to more debt and defaults

TO THE CASUAL observer, the business of lending to poor, financially unsophisticated people at sky-high interest rates seems inherently predatory. But payday loans, as they are commonly known, are more complicated than they might at first appear. On the one hand, such loans are rarely paid off all at once. Most are rolled over into new loans, sometimes many times over, leaving cash-strapped borrowers caught in a cycle of debt. On the other hand, laws aimed at restricting payday loans can prevent risky borrowers from gaining access to credit. Some may be forced to seek even costlier alternatives.

Shad Plank: Another consumer protection bill for lenders clears a key hurdle

Payday-Loan Fight Goes Bipartisan in States as CFPB Backs Off

Closing a loophole in Georgia’s usury laws that allows auto title lenders to charge interest rates as high as 300% is neither a Democratic nor Republican issue to State Sen. Randy Robertson. The Republican lawmaker sees bringing auto title lenders under the state’s 60% interest rate cap, which has effectively prevented payday lending from taking hold in the state, is about helping people out of desperate circumstances.

Utah Representative Proposes Bill to Stop Payday Lenders From Taking Bail Money from Borrowers

A Utah lawmaker has proposed a bill to stop high-interest lenders from seizing bail money from borrowers who don’t repay their loans. The bill, introduced in the state’s House of Representatives this week, came in response to a ProPublica investigation in December. The article revealed that payday lenders and other high-interest loan companies routinely sue borrowers in Utah’s small claims courts and take the bail money of those who are arrested, and sometimes jailed, for missing a hearing.

A new Senate bill would create a US data protection agency

Europe's data protection laws are some of the strictest in the world, and have long been a thorn in the side of the data-guzzling Silicon Valley tech giants since they colonized vast swathes of the internet.   Two decades later, one Democratic senator wants to bring many of those concepts to the United States.

Big banks are set up to ‘kill’ change, says founder of $2.5 billion fintech firm Monzo

Tom Blomfield doesn’t think big banks will ever undergo a digital transformation. The British fintech entrepreneur says banking behemoths like Barclays and HSBC are saddled with outdated technology and a risk-averse culture to respond to the challenge that upstarts like his digital bank, Monzo, present. “The banks really focus very hard on their existing set of financial products,” Blomfield, co-founder and CEO of Monzo, said in an interview. By that, he means things like mortgages, loans and credit cards — “balance sheet products, basically.”

Supervisory Highlights, Issue No. 21 (Winter 2020)

In this issue of Supervisory Highlights, we report examination findings in the areas of debt collection, mortgage servicing, payday lending, and student loan servicing that were completed between April 2019 and August 2019. The report does not impose any new or different legal requirements, and all violations described in the report are based only on those specific facts and circumstances noted during those examinations.

California AG issues modifications to proposed CCPA Regulations

The modified proposed regulations clarify that “personal information” does not include information that a business collected but cannot reasonably link to a consumer.  For example, “if a business collects the IP addresses of visitors to its website but does not link the IP address to any particular consumer or household, and could not reasonably link the IP address with a particular consumer or household” then the IP address would not be “personal information.”  This is a particularly important limitation for businesses that don’t have a direct relationship with California consumers but rather only collect personal information via the website.

The CFPB’s economic army to promote consumer welfare

Last October, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced its intention to create a Task Force on Federal Consumer Financial Law. Inspired by the 1972 National Commission on Consumer Finance, the task force is intended to examine the whole of consumer finance law academically, something that hasn’t been done since the 1972 commission. Wasting no time, early this January, CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger announced the members and chairman for the Task Force, putting an exclamation point on her goal of ensuring that the CFPB’s efforts are razor focused on promoting consumer welfare.

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The Payments Summit 2020

The Payments Summit

2020 Annual Utilities Credit & Collections Symposium

Conferences By Monticello

ACA International 2020 Spring Forum & Expo

ACA International

BUMP Collections! Dallas

A "CollectoRMSeries" course by Resource Management Services, Inc.

Commercial Payments International

EuroFinance

AFCC Spring Conference – 2020

NAPCP Commercial Card and Payment Conference: P-Card, Travel Card, ePayables

NAPCP

NCUCA – National Credit Union Collection Alliance 2020

NCUCA National Credit Union Collections Alliance

Collection and Recovery Solutions 2020

Collection & Recovery Solutions - produced by Resource Management Services, Inc.

LendIt Fintech USA

Save 15% with our Discount Code: DC15%

National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees 2020

National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees (NACTT)

Debt Connection Symposium & Expo 2020

Resource Management Services, Inc.

Auto finance Summit 2020

Royal Media