Newsletters

08.02.18

CFPB News: New Innovations Office, ‘Gentler’ Consent Orders

The kinder, gentler Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) has created a new office focused on emerging technology, announced a pair of consent orders that include minimal financial penalties, and continued to fend off constitutional challenges in federal court.


08.02.18

New York’s DFS Report Could Yield Increased Regulation

Based on a law requiring a survey of online lending in the state, New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued a report on the methods of operation, lending practices, and risks and benefits of online lending, including recommendations that could lead to additional regulation of ...


08.02.18

California Continues Oversight of Student Loan Servicers

Following in the recent footsteps of the California attorney general’s lawsuit against the country’s largest student loan servicer, the state’s Department of Business Oversight (DBO) sent letters to 12 servicers seeking information about why they have not applied for licenses ...


08.02.18

ALJs Could Get Political With New Executive Order

The new executive order (EO) granting agency chiefs the power to hire administrative law judges (ALJs) according to their own standards—and eliminating the exam and competitive hiring process formerly in place—could turn the position of ALJ into a politicized one, critics of the move ...


08.02.18

One District Judge Says Ringless Voicemails Are TCPA ‘Calls’

A ringless voicemail message (RVM)—technology that allows messages to be left directly on a consumer’s cell phone without requiring the consumer to answer—can be a handy communication tool for any business, but particularly so for financial services companies concerned with ...


08.02.18

FTC Asks Lawmakers for Additional Authority

The newly filled Federal Trade Commission testified before Congress recently, with Chairman Joseph Simons calling for more agency power to provide additional consumer privacy protections.


08.02.18

Allergy Claims Cause NAD to React With Recommendation to Discontinue

Claims for an allergy medication should be discontinued because they lack the necessary support, the National Advertising Division recently recommended, despite seemingly contrary findings in prior decisions that considered some of the studies at issue.


08.02.18

Appellate Courts Pass on Embedded Link, Publicity Rights Cases

In appellate news, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit declined to consider a high-profile copyright case involving embedded links while the California Supreme Court passed on actress Olivia de Havilland’s publicity rights challenge to an FX television show.


08.02.18

Take Two: ANA Updates Transparency Template

Two years after releasing a report on media transparency accompanied by a services agreement template, the Association of National Advertisers provided an update with version 2.0.


07.31.18

CMS Liberalizes Medicare Advantage and Part D Marketing Rules

On July 20, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the new “Medicare Communications and Marketing Guidelines” (MCMG), which governs Medicare Advantage organizations (MAOs) and Part D plan sponsors.