Locke Lord’s Brian Casey, Partner in the Atlanta office, Authors “CFPB’s New Rules For Cellphone Carrier Third-Party Billers” for Law360 on November 30, 2016

Tucked away in the proposed arbitration rule of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the addition of a new consumer financial product and service deemed to be within the purview of the CFPB. The arbitration rule, which would prohibit the inclusion of class action waivers in arbitration provisions for consumer products regulated by the CFPB, was subject to a comment period that ended several months ago but has still not been published as a final rule. Under the arbitration rule, mobile phone carriers that engage in third-party billing services will soon be considered to be providing a CFPB covered product, and will become covered persons within the CFPB’s jurisdiction in respect of their provision of such services. This would be the twelfth consumer product subject to the CFPB’s regulation, and the second such product the CFPB has established by regulation. (more)