Terms and Connectors

Getting Money Back for Scammed Consumers

This article explains scammed consumers’ best approaches to retrieve their money, depending on the method used for its payment. The article covers unusual payment methods preferred by scammers, such as gift cards, wires, prepaid cards, remotely created payment orders, express mail of cash and money orders, and not just credit or debit cards.

New CFPB Rule Provides Enforceable Protections for Prepaid Cards

Effective April 1, the CFPB Prepaid Accounts Rule adds protections for prepaid cards, payroll cards, and person-to-person payment services, as set out in this article. The rule improves fee transparency, protects cards from unauthorized charges and errors, and addresses abusive overdraft fees. Consumers can obtain actual and statutory damages and attorney fees for violations.

Impact of Supreme Court Seila Law Ruling on CFPB Constitutionality

The Supreme Court’s June 29th decision in Seila Law allows the President to remove at will the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director, but it saves the rest of the Bureau’s authority. This article explains some of the decision’s implications for the CFPB, the FHFA, and other independent agencies. Of special note is the CFPB’s July 7th ratification of almost all of its existing rules and other past actions and its July 7th repeal of most parts of the payday loan rule.

Protecting Against Creditor Seizure of Stimulus Checks

Creditors with court judgments against consumers may seek to garnish stimulus payments from consumers’ bank accounts. This article explains the threat, lists tips to determine accounts at risk, explains how Americans will receive stimulus payments, and provides advice on preventing garnishment, depending on whether payment is by direct deposit or by paper check.

Protecting Against Creditors’ Seizure of Stimulus Checks (depublished)

The CARES Act authorizes payments up to $1200 to individuals and $2400 for couples, with an additional $500 for children under 17 years old. The payments phase out for those whose income is between $75,000 and $99,000 ($150,000/$198,000 for a married couple filing jointly). An eligible family of four with children under 17 will receive $3400. Social Security recipients who do not file tax returns will only receive $1200 as the IRS does not know which recipients have dependents.

image of the CFPB logo on a building

Practice Implications of Fifth Circuit Ruling That CFPB Funding Unconstitutional

The Fifth Circuit just found the CFPB lacked authority to issue the Payday Lending Rule because the CFPB’s funding is unconstitutional. This article explains the potentially earth-shattering implications for consumer litigation based on CFPB rules interpreting TILA, FDCPA, FCRA, RESPA, and more, and offers detailed practice advice when consumer attorneys now pursue such claims.

image of the CFPB logo on a building

The Latest Developments on Constitutionality of CFPB Regulations

This article examines important developments at the Supreme Court, Second Circuit, and the district courts since the Fifth Circuit’s October ruling that the CFPB’s funding mechanism is unconstitutional and that a CFPB rule must thus be vacated. The article also offers updated litigation practice pointers for cases involving CFPB rules where defendants may challenge the rule’s validity based on the CFPB’s funding mechanism.

photo of a laptop with a user viewing data trends

New Angles in Challenging Rent-a-Bank Schemes

Predatory lenders use rent-a-bank schemes to avoid the consumer’s home state usury limits by piggybacking onto federal rate exportation rights available only to banks. This article explains how banks and others participating in a rent-a-bank scheme could be in for a big surprise. They may not be immune from the consumer’s home state regulation of matters other than the actual interest rate, leading to powerful consumer remedies.

photograph of a person's hands counting single dollar bills

Helping Consumers Harmed by Payment Fraud

Fraud schemes usually include forms of consumer payment that limit consumer ability to stop or reverse payment. This article explains payment methods frequently used in fraud schemes and then sets out practical steps and legal rights that may allow consumers to get their money back, based on each of the common payment techniques fraudsters use to receive the consumer’s payment. Links are provided for further help.