Consumer Financial Services and Fintech

Providers of consumer financial services operate in an unsettled legal environment that is growing more complex. Since the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act and the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), consumer financial service providers of all sizes and geographical footprints face an increase in regulatory scrutiny, enforcement and litigation risks. Noonan & Lieberman helps institutions that provide consumer financial services by delivering high quality, cost efficient legal services that help clients achieve their business goals.

Providers of Consumer financial services that we represent include: mortgage lenders, investors and mortgage servicers, debt collectors, payday lenders, marketers, telemarketers, installment loan lenders and servicers, fintech firms, marketplace lenders or peer-to-peer (P2P) and businesses that provide financed consumer products and services.

Learn more about Mortgage Lending and Servicing for mortgage industry specific legal services.

Regulatory Compliance

We advise providers of consumer financial services on compliance with federal and state regulatory requirements. Our objective is to help clients operate in compliance with those requirements. Our federal regulatory compliance counseling includes the following acts and related regulations: Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA (fair lending)), Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA), Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), Military Lending Act (MLA), Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Truth in Lending Act (TILA), Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices (UDAAP), and USA PATRIOT Act.

Our attorneys work with clients to develop, and conduct periodic reviews of, compliance management system, controls, policies and procedures to ensure they comply with applicable legal requirements. We advise and assist clients in the development, design and review of credit agreements, disclosure forms, consumer notices and of new consumer products and services. We work together with clients’ compliance personnel, internal or external auditors and senior management in conducting periodic reviews or internal compliance investigations. We conduct state law surveys for clients that have multistate operations and provide clients comparative federal and state requirements. Our attorneys provide federal (e.g. CFPB, OCC, FDIC, NCUA and DOJ) and state regulatory exam support, such as exam preparation, ongoing exam support, assist clients in responding to exam findings and advise on remediation. We also assist clients in responding to consumer complaints, in responding to federal and state regulatory inquiries and in communicating with state and federal regulatory agencies on all matters touching clients’ operations.

Transactional Support

Our attorneys help clients in drafting, reviewing and negotiating various agreements, including:

  • Collection services agreements
  • Commercial loan agreements
  • Commercial loan extension and modifications agreements
  • Credit accounts purchase agreements
  • Credit card portfolio purchase agreements
  • Custodial agreements
  • Entity formation, including joint ventures, limited liability companies and partnerships
  • Joint marketing agreements
  • Loan purchase agreements
  • Loan servicing agreements
  • Marketing services agreements
  • Repurchase agreements
  • Telemarketing services agreements
  • Third-party vendor services agreements
  • Warehouse line agreements

We help clients identify legal risks and offer alternatives to avoid or mitigate risk. Our attorneys also perform comprehensive due diligence reviews of counterparties and of purchased financial assets both pre and post transaction closing. We leverage our attorneys’ knowledge and experience in consumer financial services related litigation and dispute resolution to assist clients when developing and negotiating transaction agreements.

Regulatory Enforcement

Our attorneys help clients in responding to federal and state regulators’ inquiries and investigation demands, such as civil investigative demands (CID) and subpoenas. We also represent clients in administrative enforcement proceedings, before the CFPB, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), OFAC, depository institutions regulators and other federal and state regulators. We help clients navigate the enforcement process and assist clients in reaching resolution with the regulators.

Litigation

We provide a broad range of litigation services to consumer financial services providers, including prosecution and defense of contractual obligations, defense of consumer litigation, class action defense and federal and state appellate litigation (including appeals of administrative decisions). We also represent clients as creditors in consumer bankruptcies. We are able to leverage our attorneys’ knowledge of regulatory compliance rules and transactional work to augment our representation of clients in litigation prosecution and defense. Click Litigation for more information on our litigation services.

Licensing

Our attorneys advise clients that engage in consumer financial services activities on state licensing requirements and, where appropriate, identify available exemptions. We assist clients in obtaining state licenses and can help clients obtain any required regulatory agency approval to conduct their activities. Our attorneys conduct multistate licensing surveys, engage in multistate licensing applications projects and assist clients with licensing renewals.

CDFI Certification and Federal Home Loan Bank Membership

We also assist depository and non-depository institutions, such as community development loan funds and venture capital funds, in the application for, and maintenance of, the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) certification. We assist CDFIs in all matters concerning membership with a Federal Home Loan Bank, including: membership application, advances, letters of credit, collateral matters and compliance with membership requirements.