The Consumer Finance Podcast

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, host Chris Willis is joined by Stephen Hayes, co-managing partner of Relman Colfax, to discuss targeted digital advertising, an unsettled area of fair lending. They examine where nonmortgage lenders stand today and under a future administration, the drift of ad models into underwriting and pricing, lessons from Fair Housing Act cases and settlements, and the potential application of disparate impact to ad delivery. They also cover the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) 2026 Reg B revisions limiting discouragement and guidance for lenders to build marketing compliance, all through a lens of unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP) and surveillance pricing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, Taylor Gess is joined by colleagues Jason Cover and Carlin McCrory for another installment of the "Point-of-Sale Finance" series. The conversation turns to the payment products that sit alongside credit at the point of sale: deposit accounts, debit cards, prepaid cards, digital wallets, and gift cards. They explain why the first step is deciding what the product actually is, since Regulation E and Regulation CC determine whether it is a prepaid account or a checking account, and they cover key deposit agreement terms, fraud and unauthorized use, fee disclosures, escheat, and ledgering. Jason and Carlin also examine hybrid prepaid credit cards under Regulation Z and the status of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's overdraft rule after the Congressional Review Act resolution.The episode also addresses Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering onboarding and identity verification, convenience fees and surcharges (including card network rules, state law caps, and the First Amendment rulings against many state surcharge laws), and the Durbin Amendment's effect on interchange and bank partner selection. It closes with how clients are entering the payments ecosystem as ISOs and PayFacs, and how deposit account data can support underwriting and repayment for new credit products.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, host Chris Willis is joined by partners Erin Edwards, Jason Manning, and Joe DeFazio, along with special guest Matt Brooks, a partner in Troutman Pepper Locke's Bankruptcy + Restructuring practice, to talk about the resurgence of both residential and commercial foreclosures in 2026 and what it means for financial services companies.Erin kicks things off by addressing why foreclosure activity is concentrating in Rust Belt and Mid-Atlantic markets like Dayton, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. She also covers the compliance challenges of servicing across states with widely divergent procedural regimes and the looming "FHA forbearance cliff," expected to drive a surge in short sales through 2026 and 2027. Jason then walks through the private litigation risks rising alongside foreclosure volume, including anti-dual-tracking violations, single point of contact failures, and successor in interest missteps, then explains how reduced federal enforcement has shifted regulatory risk toward active state attorneys general and plaintiffs' counsel.On the commercial side, Matt details how workout dynamics differ by lender type, be it commercial banks, private credit, or CMBS servicers, against a backdrop of a multitrillion-dollar apartment loan maturity wave, rising CMBS delinquencies, and increasing bankruptcy filings, then discusses when "bad boy guarantee" carve-outs are actually getting triggered in this cycle. Joe closes by connecting the residential and commercial threads, explaining how overlapping foreclosure activity strains court systems, depresses property values, activates municipal ordinances, and creates reputational risk, and he offers practical preparation steps for lenders and servicers on both sides of the business. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this special crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Regulatory Oversight, Chris Willis, Stefanie Jackman, and Mike Yaghi discuss California Governor Gavin Newsom's appointment of former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra to lead the state's newly created Business and Consumer Services Agency (BCSA).The group discusses Chopra's oversight of the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI), his broad authority alongside the California attorney general, and what his track record of aggressive, systemic enforcement at the CFPB and FTC might mean for California's consumer financial services industry going forward. They also get into DFPI's wide-reaching supervisory and enforcement powers, what companies should be doing to get ready, and whether this move sets Chopra up for a bigger Cabinet-level role down the road in a future Democratic administration.The episode wraps up with a bigger-picture look at whether federal regulators could swing hard back toward consumer protection enforcement under a future Democratic president. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, host Chris Willis is joined by litigation partners Massie Cooper and Kalama Lui-Kwan to unpack the rapidly evolving world of mass arbitration and the recent developments reshaping how these disputes are filed, administered, and resolved.Massie and Kalama trace mass arbitration's origins as a response to class action waivers, then break down how the major alternative dispute resolution providers have restructured their procedures to handle massive claimant volumes, from process arbitrators and sworn attestations to flat fees and global mediation options. They also walk through a fast-moving line of appellate decisions that are defining who decides fee disputes, when courts can compel arbitration to continue, and how far providers can go in consolidating claims.The conversation also turns to artificial intelligence's (AI) growing role on both sides of the table, from claimant-side tools that manage rosters and flag anomalies to provider-side AI standards and AI-assisted arbitration procedures, and the due process and verification questions that come with it. Massie and Kalama close with practical takeaways for companies, including periodically reviewing arbitration agreements, confirming provider registration requirements, and building AI verification protocols into their compliance programs. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.