Litigation

Townstone Financial in Chicago had been accused of discriminating against certain consumers by trying to discourage them from applying for home loans. However, a judge ruled that federal law protects only actual applicants.

Credit Acceptance Corp., a major name in subprime auto finance, is facing a legal challenge over its lending practices. Some lawyers and analysts say the company's battle with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has broader implications for the rest of the industry.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the state attorney general claim Credit Acceptance Corp., an indirect auto lender, deceived thousands of borrowers by failing to disclose and include finance charges in calculating the cost of a car loan.

The Mississippi bank would take a big hit to capital and income but avoid the risk of a bigger payout from a guilty verdict in litigation against banks that did business with Allen Stanford's disgraced financial empire.

Among U.S. financial regulators, Chopra is the one who bankers fear the most. His agency is expected to battle with the financial industry in 2023 on topics ranging from discrimination to fees and the bureau's funding mechanism.

Many experts think the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding through the Federal Reserve could be the fatal flaw in the Dodd-Frank Act that created the agency, but differentiating the CFPB's structure from others may be tricky.

The Wyoming-based digital-asset bank wants more information about why a decision on its two-year-old application for a master account has been delayed. But U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl ruled that the central bank won't have to turn over everything Custodia sought.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is investigating how the Jack Dorsey-led company handles fraud on its person-to-person payments app. After the bureau accused Block of dragging its feet, a federal magistrate judge gave the company a Jan. 5 deadline.

Early next year the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals is slated to consider whether certain loans are actually securities.

The case involved a customer who was charged $100,000 in legal fees when he tried to pay off a commercial mortgage early. After the borrower waged a nearly decadelong legal fight, a Florida court ordered the bank to reimburse a portion of the fees.