With its exceptional breadth of knowledge and experience, the Consumer Financial Services group helps mortgage lenders and other consumer finance companies navigate the broad range of US federal and state laws that impact their business' operations. Members of the group perform as trusted advisors in every aspect of the consumer lending spectrum, including formation, licensing and approvals, regulatory compliance, government enforcement, internal investigations, class action defense, and public policy and government affairs.
The strength and experience of our team in the nation’s capital means we have the capabilities to work with the federal agencies that supervise consumer financial service providers. Our presence in Washington DC enables us to keep our hand on the pulse of government policy, which enhances our ability to obtain agency approvals and to defend against administrative enforcement actions. A number of our lawyers have served in federal and state agencies, including the Department of the Treasury, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and numerous offices of state attorneys general.
Our clients span the entire consumer financial services spectrum, encompassing traditional consumer financial services companies (such as depository institutions, mortgage lenders, auto lenders, consumer finance companies, student lenders, credit card issuers, loan servicers, broker-dealers, payday lenders, investment banks, money services businesses, prepaid card issuers and sellers, and payment systems providers), as well as non-financial companies (such as homebuilders, retailers, title insurers and agencies, real estate brokers, relocation service companies, online financial service aggregators, insurance companies, peer-to-peer lenders and technology companies) that provide consumer financial services in addition to their core business activities.
In addition to the broad range of types of clients identified above, our team also represents companies that support the consumer financial services industry, but that do not directly service consumers. Examples include broker-dealers, venture capital firms and hedge funds that invest in consumer financial services providers, rating agencies, vendor and appraisal management companies, technology vendors to the financial services industry and document preparation companies.