Consumer Finance Monitor

In this episode of the Consumer Finance Monitor podcast, host Alan Kaplinsky welcomes Pat Utz, CEO and co-founder of Abstract, a venture capital-backed AI company headquartered in New York. Pat brings extensive expertise on artificial intelligence. The podcast focuses on current developments in AI regulation and implementation, first covering President Trump's recent "Winning the Race: America's A...

Today's podcast episode is a continuation of a previous repurposed webinar held on August 12th, focusing on emerging opportunities in the consumer financial services sector under the Trump administration. The session aims to provide insights into the evolving regulatory landscape and its implications for businesses and consumers. The  first part  of the webinar, released last Thursday, September 4...

In the latest episode of our podcast, we explore the significant shifts in the regulatory landscape under the second Trump administration and how these recent deregulatory actions have opened new pathways for banks and FinTech companies by reducing barriers to entry and compliance costs. This evolving environment presents opportunities for innovation and market expansion, although state law oversi...

We recently wrote about the August 15th D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the lawsuit brought by the labor unions representing CFPB employees against Acting Director Russell Vought. The unions sought injunctive relief in response to what they described as an attempted "shutdown" of the Bureau. In a 2–1 ruling, the Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction issued by the District Cou...

Today's episode of the Consumer Finance Monitor podcast is centered around a novel and thought-provoking article by David Horton, a professor of law at the University of California, Davis. The article, titled "Do Arbitrators Follow the Law? Evidence from Clause Construction," dives into the intriguing question of whether arbitrators render decisions that align with judicial rulings. Horton explore...

Today on our podcast, we're releasing a repurposed recording of our July 23, 2025 webinar titled "Student Lending Legislation and Litigation: 2025 Mid-Year Review." The webinar features esteemed partners John Culhane and Tom Burke, who dive into the intricacies of student lending litigation and regulatory developments. As a senior partner in the Consumer Financial Services Group, John Culhane shar...

Today's episode of the Consumer Finance Monitor podcast offers an in-depth analysis of the unitary executive theory and its implications for terminations by President Trump of the Democratic members/commissioners of several so-called independent Federal agencies.  The episode features Lev Menand, an associate professor of law at Columbia Law School, who provides expert insights into financial inst...

Our podcast show being released today commemorates the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Loper Bright Enterprises - the opinion in which the Court overturned the Chevron Deference Doctrine. The Chevron Deference Doctrine stems from the Supreme Court's 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. The decision basically held that if federal legislation is...

We are releasing today a very interesting podcast show which is also breaking news. Before I read an article by Professor Charlotte Haendler of Southern Methodist University and Professor Rawley Z. Heimer of Arizona State University titled "The Hidden Costs of Financial Services: Consumer Complaints and Financial Restitution," I never knew that the CFPB authorized outside third-parties access to n...

The podcast show we are releasing today features Professor Jonathan Gould of University of California (Berkeley) Law School who discusses his recent article co-written with Professor Rory Van Loo of Boston University School of Law which was recently published in the University of Chicago Law Review titled "Legislating for the Future" . The introduction of the article describes "legislating for the...

The podcast show we are releasing this week focuses generally on the so-called "Unitary Executive Theory" and specifically on the legality of President Trump firing without cause the Democratic Commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission and the members of other independent agencies, despite language in the governing statutes that prohibit the President from firing a member without cause and a 1...

The genesis of the podcast show we are releasing today was an article written by Nick Bourke titled " America Can Fix Its Scam Problem. But We Keep Gifting Billions to Transnational Criminals Because It Feels Too Hard " published on April 12, 2025 in Open Banker. We learned from that article about the great work being done by Aspen Institute's National Task Force on Fraud and Scam Prevention. The...

We are releasing today on our podcast show a repurposed webinar that we produced on June 11, 2025 entitled "What is happening at the federal agencies that is relevant to the residential mortgage and settlement service industries." During this podcast, we will inform you about recent developments at federal agencies, including the CFPB, HUD/FHA, OCC, FDIC, FRB and USDA (collectively, the "Agencies"...

Our podcast show being released today is Part 2 of our two-part series featuring two former CFPB senior officers who were key employees in the Enforcement Division under prior directors: Eric Halperin and Craig Cowie. Eric Halperin served as the Enforcement Director at the CFPB from 2010 until former Director, Rohit Chopra, was terminated by President Trump. Craig Cowie was an enforcement attorney...

Our podcast shows being released today and next Wednesday, June 18 feature two former CFPB senior officers who were key employees in the Enforcement Division under prior directors: Eric Halperin and Craig Cowie. Eric Halperin served as the Enforcement Director at the CFPB from 2010 until former Director, Rohit Chopra, was terminated by President Trump. Craig Cowie was an enforcement attorney at th...

Our podcast show being released today features two former CFPB senior officers who were key employees in the Supervision Division under prior directors: Peggy Twohig and Paul Sanford. Peggywas a founding executive of the CFPB when the agency was created in 2010 and led the development of the first federal supervision program over nonbank consumer financial companies. Beginning in 2012, as head of...

We are releasing today on our podcast show a repurposed webinar which we produced on May 13, 2025 entitled "What is happening at the federal agencies (other than the CFPB) that is relevant to the consumer financial services industry." During this podcast, we will inform you about recent developments at those other agencies, including the FTC, OCC, FDIC, FRB and DOJ (collectively, the "Agencies") a...

Our podcast show being released today will focus on S.   919, the Guiding and Establishing   National Innovation for U. S. Stablecoins Act of 2025 or GENIUS Act which was reported out of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee by a bipartisan vote of 18-6. The bill would establish a regime to regulate stablecoins.   Our guest today, Professor Art Wilmarth of George Washington Univ...

Today's podcast show is a repurposed webinar that we produced on April 22 nd , titled "Navigating State AG Investigations: A Playbook For Financial Services Companies." State Attorneys General (AG) investigations can present significant challenges for businesses and legal practitioners. We offer a detailed dive into effective strategies and practical tips drawn from our State AG Investigation Play...

Today's podcast features Stephen Calkins, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and former General Counsel of the Federal Trade Commission (the "FTC"). President Trump recently fired, without good cause, the two Democratic members of the FTC, leaving only two Republican members as commissioners. He did this even though the FTC Act provides that a commissioner may be fired by the Pre...

The podcast we are releasing today is part 2 of a re-purposed webinar we produced on March 25 titled "The Impact of the Election on the CFPB - Part 4." As a result of the diminishing impact of the CFPB on enforcing the consumer financial services laws, we expect that void to be filled by state government enforcement agencies and private civil litigation, including class and mass actions.   Our web...

The podcast we are releasing today is part 1 of a re-purposed webinar we produced on March 25 titled "The Impact of the Election on the CFPB - Part 4." As a result of the diminishing impact of the CFPB on enforcing the consumer financial services laws, we expect that void to be filled by state government enforcement agencies and private civil litigation, including class and mass actions. Our webin...

Our podcast show being released today is part 2 of a repurposed interactive webinar that we presented on March 24 featuring two of the leading journalists who cover the CFPB - Jon Hill from Law360 and Evan Weinberger from Bloomberg. Our show begins with Tom Burke, a Ballard Spahr consumer financial services litigator, describing in general terms the status of the 38 CFPB enforcement lawsuits that...

Our podcast show being released today is Part 1 of a repurposed interactive webinar that we presented on March 24, featuring two of the leading journalists who cover the CFPB - Jon Hill from Law360 and Evan Weinberger from Bloomberg. Our show began with Jon and Evan chronicling the initiatives beginning on February 3 by CFPB Acting Directors Scott Bessent, Russell Vought and DOGE to shut down or a...

Our special podcast show today deals primarily with a 112-page opinion and 3-page order issued on March 28 by Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in a lawsuit brought, among others, by two labor unions representing CFPB employees against Acting Director Russell Vought. The complaint alleged that Acting Director Vought and others were in the process of d...