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One of the benefits that comes to me by virtue of my teaching Consumer Protection as an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama School of Law is that I am obliged to review the multitude of consumer financial protection laws, rules, and regulations. After all, you can’t teach this stuff to the next generation of lawyers without knowing it reasonably well. I find that my teaching gig gives me a great source of information to cover in this Back to Basics blog. And, today, I want to focus on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Rules and Guides that affect consumer financial protection.

You may recall that when the CFPB was organized, many of the laws and regulations of the federal agencies were transferred to the domain of the CFPB. Up until that time, the FTC with state government agencies was largely the federal agency responsible for regulating the consumer finance industry. So, there was a period of time when the Rules transfer caused some disruption and uncertainty in enforcement by the FTC. Well, those days are now behind us, and the FTC is back at the enforcement table—along with the CFPB and state regulators.

I wanted to share with you today a challenge question: Of the approximate 71 Rules and Guides that you can find on the FTC.gov website, how many do you think have a direct impact on consumer finance? What’s your guess? 10%? 20%? 25%? 29.5%?

Well, the answer is that twenty-one of the Rules are distinctively applicable to consumer finance. So, if you said twenty-nine and one-half percent of the current FTC Rules and Guides apply to consumer lending or the sale of consumer goods on credit, you are correct. Here’s the list for you to review to make certain that you have policies and procedures designed to address each:

• CAN-SPAM Rule
• Cooling-off Period for Sales made at Home or Other Locations
• Credit Practices
• Disposal of Consumer Report Information and Records
• Fair Credit Billing Act
• Fair Credit Reporting Act
• Financial Privacy Rule
• Free Credit Report Rule
• Furnisher Rule
• Holder in Due Course Rule
• Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act
• Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule
• Safeguards Rule
• Telemarketing Sales Rule
• The Fair Credit Reporting Act: Address Discrepancy Rule
• The Fair Credit Reporting Act: Appropriate Proof of Identity
• The Fair Credit Reporting Act: Disposal Rule
• The Fair Credit Reporting Act: Identity Theft Rules
• The Fair Credit Reporting Act: Model Forms and Disclosures
• The Fair Credit Reporting Act: Prescreen Opt-Out Notice Rule
• The Fair Credit Act: Risk-Based Pricing Rule

Now, please understand that a number of the other FTC Rules and Guides may be implicated in a consumer credit transaction. However, the other Rules and Guides would generally have equal application to a cash as well as credit transaction or may be applicable to a non-consumer finance specific product or industry.

Practice Pointer: Recall that many of the regulations have specific record keeping requirements also.

Please note: This is the one hundred thirty-sixth blog in a series of Back to Basics blogs, in which relevant and resourceful information can be easily accessed by clicking here.