Climate for Student Loan Oversight Gets Hotter with Recommendation of Top CFPB Student Loan Official for FTC Commissioner

While most mainstream media outlets are pulling a Jan Brady and reporting "Comey, Comey, Comey," the consumer financial services community should be chewing on a different name right now: "Chopra, Chopra, Chopra."

U.S. Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer (D, NY), has recommended to the President, Rohit Chopra, former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Student Loan Ombudsman for an open Democratic seat on the Federal Trade Commission. As the former CFPB Ombudsman, Chopra held a high post in the Bureau, interacting directly and routinely with Director Richard Cordray, and helping to prioritize—and importantly, publicize—student loan policy and enforcement initiatives for the Bureau that have long outlasted Chopra's tenure. Chopra has been known to draw comparisons between the mortgage and student loan industries, calling for greater data transparency in the student loan industry. More ›

6 Ways to Achieve Compliance without an Audit

No doubt there is a need for compliance audits. I do them. You do them. Almost every regulatory & compliance lawyer and consulting company that exists does them. In fact, some state and federal laws mandate that you do a compliance audit. You can do them internally, you can do them externally, and you can run yourself in circles trying to make someone who matters realize the value in implementing changes that result from the audit.

Realistically, there are only so many traffic signals and stop signs you can yield to. In the first of a recurring series of Compliance Corner posts, we're going to look at 6 practical tips you can implement without a formal compliance audit that will either stave off the regulators, or make a couple of zeros drop off their demand (I mean before the decimal point). Even if you've had a terrible experience interacting with a government agency, and you just don't buy that these efforts will matter to them, these tips will help you to build better relationships with your customers. More ›

A Spike in Student Loan Defaults Likely to Trigger Follow-on Litigation Surge

The student lending industry should pay close attention to the onslaught of litigation that mortgage loan servicers have faced for years. I recently authored an article on this topic for Law360. A Consumer Federation of America analysis has indicated that student loan defaults have risen at least 14 percent since 2015. Such a trend will likely make student lending market participants susceptible to increased regulatory scrutiny, and could also result in a spike in follow-on private litigation. More ›