Publications

Last month, the Department of Justice entered into a consent order with a $338 million community bank in Texas for alleged violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, highlighting the continued regulatory focus on fair lending and the importance of uniform policies and training in this area. The DOJ’s complaint […]

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) does not preclude a court from awarding costs to a lender that prevails against allegations that it violated the FDCPA.  A lower court decision held that a defendant who is found to not have violated […]

Financial institutions are often presented with the dilemma of what to do with bank accounts after the death of the primary account holder. Of course, accounts held jointly or with a “payable-on-death” (POD) designation are generally easy to handle. At the death of the primary account holder, the co-owner or […]

A preliminary list of rural and underserved counties released this month by the CFPB shows that many community banks that predominantly operate in rural counties in Nebraska and Iowa will qualify for special exceptions under a number of the Bureau’s new rules affecting mortgage lending practices. The first such rule, […]

In early February, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued regulations implementing the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, one of several Affordable Care Act mandates intended to create additional transparency in the health care market.    The Sunshine Act requires manufacturers of drugs, devices, biological, and medical supplies covered […]