Alston & Bird Launches Consumer Finance Blog

Alston & Bird’s Consumer Financial Services Team has launched a new blog, “Consumer Finance ABstract.” The blog provides incisive commentary on a broad range of regulatory and compliance developments affecting all areas of consumer lending, including mortgage, installment, credit card, auto, student, and peer-to-peer.

Authored principally by a team of Alston & Bird attorneys in Consumer Financial Services, Financial Services & Products, Litigation, Capital Markets & Securities, Privacy & Data Security, and Payment Systems, the blog focuses on the regulation of consumer credit and real estate finance and the compliance challenges faced by major Wall Street financial institutions, including federal- and state-chartered depository institutions, hedge funds, private equity funds, nonbank lenders and servicers, appraisal management and title companies, and others.

“In a time of heightened regulatory scrutiny at both the federal and state levels, it’s critical that financial services providers be able to confidently navigate and stay in compliance with the growing web of government mortgage and consumer lending regulations,” said blog editor Nanci Weissgold, Alston & Bird partner and co-head of the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Team. “Our attorneys have significant experience counseling clients across a wide range of complex compliance issues, and Consumer Finance ABstract gives us a public platform to share our insights, observations, and commentary on hot topics critical to the industry.”

In addition to Weissgold, other blog contributors include partners Stephen Ornstein and Kelley Barnaby; senior attorneys Brian Burton and Rinaldo Martinez; senior associates Anoush Garakani, Morey Barnes Yost, Ross Speier, Lisa Lanham, Amanda Mollo, and Michael Young; associates Kristi Ramsay and Sam Bragg; and compliance analyst Teresa Diaz.

Recent posts published on Consumer Finance ABstract include:

• Washington State Expands Data Breach Notification Law

• Ninth Circuit Finds CFPB’s Structure Constitutional

• House Committee Holds Hearing on “Ending Debt Traps in the Payday and Small Dollar Credit Industry”