Regulatory Compliance and Consumer Credit

The Firm’s Regulatory Compliance and Consumer Credit Practice Team consists of a dozen lawyers across the Firm’s footprint. The Team forms one of the largest fully-dedicated practices of its kind in the Southeast United States.

 

Current turmoil in credit markets is creating unprecedented legal challenges. At this time, it is more important than ever for industry participants to choose outside counsel carefully, while dealing with emerging enterprise-level risk and other business challenges. At Womble Carlyle, our attorneys have been there all along. Financial services regulation always has been important to us, not just because of recent developments. We have offered top-notch representation to our retail financial services clients on cutting-edge issues for many years. Our Team provides in-depth counseling and advice based on our long experience in consumer financial services, from our “front-row seat” in the current market turmoil.

 

 

Clients who call on us now, whether banks, non-bank creditors, insurance companies, investment vehicles, vendors or service providers, do so not just because of the Firm’s legal acumen, but for our extensive experience in problem solving and vigorous advocacy for retail financial services market participants. Over the years, Womble Carlyle has handled a full complement of consumer financial services matters, including multi-state compliance projects, class action lawsuits, government enforcement actions, entity formations, financial transactions and retail product development.

 

 

The Team represents banks, finance companies, nontraditional credit providers, technology vendors, financial investors, insurance companies and other financial service providers in consumer financial services and banking regulatory matters. Our experience includes compliance, regulatory, litigation, legislative, corporate and contract-related engagements involving TILA, RESPA, FDCPA, FCRA/FACTA, ECOA, HMDA and fair lending, GLBA, HERA, EESA, government lending programs (including VA, FHA and USDA) and state consumer credit laws. We have significant experience in government enforcement actions, serving as counsel to industry respondents in actions brought by state and federal regulators. We regularly counsel clients on matters of federal preemption and challenges of financial services providers posed by the interplay of federal and state laws. We represent a number of national technology vendors and service providers to the financial services industry.
 

The Team regularly advises creditors, loan servicers, collection agencies and secondary market participants on multi-state licensing regulations and substantive consumer credit laws and regulations in the various states. The Team, working with the Firm’s Economic Stability and Solutions Team, currently is advising financial institutions and vendors on challenges and opportunities under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and related regulatory initiatives. We have worked with banking and vendor clients over the years on regulatory and business aspects of payment systems, electronic funds transfers and deposit products. Recently, attorneys on the Team have served as regulatory and due diligence counsel in a number of complex corporate acquisition and sale transactions. 
 

We frequently work with Firm attorneys on the Privacy Team in privacy, information security and data sharing engagements for numerous of the Firm’s financial services and business clients. Team members work closely with the Firm’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation Team in litigation, enforcement and other dispute resolution matters. Our practice includes defense of numerous mortgage lending and lending practice class action and individual lawsuits, running the gamut from loan origination, loan sales, servicing and foreclosure. In addition, Team members are called on to advise and represent national trade groups and industry organizations in the banking and consumer financial services sector.