Our nationally-recognized Consumer Financial Services Compliance team boasts some of the industry’s most respected practitioners at the state and federal levels. Our sophisticated Compliance practice is complemented by an equally robust Insurance Regulatory and Compliance practice, which distinguishes McGlinchey in providing comprehensive, integrated services to auto finance companies and the ancillary products associated with the industry.

Our relationships with clients, regulators, and professional associations afford us exceptional insight into the industry’s business and economic forecasts, as well as the issues on the compliance horizon. We also maintain cutting-edge knowledge of the technological advances in the auto finance industry including FinTech and cybersecurity compliance issues.

McGlinchey has been licensing motor vehicle sales finance and leasing companies nationally for more than 30 years, with a team of paralegals who work exclusively on licensing projects. Our legal team works together to synthesize applicable laws, regulations, and regulatory guidance to provide thorough, expeditious service tailored to the client’s needs.

Our Consumer Financial Services Compliance team is unique in handling a notably broad spectrum of legal issues for a wide range of clients. We work with major providers of financial services in the areas of consumer credit and lease documentation, e-commerce, underwriting, licensing, state and federal regulatory examinations and investigations, acquisitions and divestitures, warehouse and other commercial financing, insurance, and structured finance. Whether the question requires a simple response, practical guidance, industry insight or a more detailed, complex analysis, we are trusted to help.

Sample work includes:

• Drafting consumer credit and lease agreements on a 50-state basis with a focus on early termination liability
• Developing national form sets and implementation guidance for repossessions
• Advising on creditor collection practices and consumer bankruptcy protections, including secured parties’ rights and obligations
• Reviewing and auditing retail and third-party documents and contracts, with related counseling on sales finance and lease trust licensing
• Developing policies and procedures, compliance management systems, consumer correspondence, modification and extension agreements, and fee matrices for all aspects of servicing and collection
• Advising clients on responsibilities related to the furnishing of credit information, including the creation of furnisher rule policies and procedures, related template response letters, and guidance on implementation
• Developing and implementing a compliant privacy policy, including advice on compliance with federal and state laws that restrict the use and disclosure of information about consumers in various contexts, including websites and the use of social media

Our lawyers have particular experience with the following laws as they relate to the auto finance industry:

• Dodd-Frank Act and Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA)
• Unfair, Deceptive and Abusive Acts and Practices (UDAAP) and state counterparts
• Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Regulation Z
• Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Regulation V
• Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B
• Gramm Leach Bliley Act (GLBA) and Regulation P
• Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and state counterparts
• Military Lending Act
• Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and state debt collection statutes
• Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), CAN-SPAM Act
• E-SIGN Act and Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)
• Uniform Consumer Credit Codes
• Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
• Motor Vehicle and Retail Installment Sales Acts
• State Repossession Statutes
• Related Consumer Financial Services Statutes and Regulation

McGlinchey has a well-established track record of successfully handling auto finance-related litigation matters for both single-plaintiff and class actions for clients throughout the country in a cost-effective, results-driven manner. As nationally recognized leaders in the high-profile, high-stakes class action litigation arena, McGlinchey protects and defends financial institutions facing class action and multidistrict lawsuits. Our team routinely represents clients on matters ranging from wholesale finance litigation in state, federal, and bankruptcy courts; to dealer litigation, motor vehicle administrative proceedings, lender liability suits, and consumer class actions.

With experience defending hundreds of class actions across more than 25 states, our attorneys regularly serve as national and regional counsel for business clients and as thought leaders in this highly specialized field. We seek summary dispositions, compel arbitration and defeat challenges to arbitration, defeat class certifications, and coordinate nationwide trial strategies. McGlinchey class action defense attorneys aggressively position clients ahead of potential flashpoints with creative and cutting-edge litigation solutions.

In today’s ever-evolving market, we know that finance and insurance go hand-in-hand. McGlinchey’s Insurance Regulatory team offers deep experience in national insurance regulation, paired with particular familiarity with consumer finance issues, to offer a suite of services very few firms can claim. We count as clients insurance producers, agencies, and companies, as well as managed care companies, third-party administrators, and reinsurers.

Our attorneys also counsel clients as they expand customer services and establish their own insurance subsidiaries. Our attorneys anticipate regulatory concerns and evaluate risks before they become problematic. We also guide clients on continued compliance with evolving statutes and regulations. Should statutory violations occur, we maintain productive relationships with key authorities and represent clients’ interests before administrative departments and agencies.

The team has successfully performed 50-state and multi-state projects and legal surveys. Additionally, we have structured insurance companies and agencies (including call centers) for nationwide sales, as well as nationwide compliance programs for sales, solicitation, and marketing with respect to full property and casualty and limited lines of credit licensing for ancillary products in the auto finance industry – such as vehicle service contracts, GAP, and similar credit-related offerings.

McGlinchey’s Cybersecurity and Data Privacy team works with clients to develop a comprehensive approach for complying with the information security and privacy laws that apply to their business, and to manage the evolving risks in this area. Our team brings together attorneys with a wide range of experience to assess and solve problems for clients of all sizes and across many different industries. This group includes attorneys from our firm’s Consumer Financial Services Compliance, Intellectual Property, Commercial Litigation, Labor & Employment, and White Collar and Government Investigations groups.

Our sophisticated practice addresses the full spectrum of security concerns. If a cyberattack or data breach does occur, we assist clients with data breach response and remediation efforts, including litigating suits and enforcement actions that inevitably follow breaches. Specifically, our team is experienced at handling all aspects of a comprehensive data privacy program, including:

• Data Security and Privacy Policy Development and Contractual Protections
• Data Breach Response and Litigation
• Data Rights Management and Trade Secret Protection Policies and Procedures
• Cyber Insurance & Vendor Management

McGlinchey’s experienced litigators have represented floorplan lenders of all types, including captive finance companies, on a regional basis for more than twenty years.

Although our geographic responsibilities have historically centered on the Southeast region of the United States, “troubled dealer” matters are routinely handled on a national basis. We have also litigated dealer disputes and Chapter 11 bankruptcies and handled out-of-court workouts across the country for our lending clients, but recent matters have occurred in California, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Alabama.

We represent automobile, motorcycle, boat, and equipment manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers regionally and nationally. The team also handles all aspects of collection and enforcement, including the recovery of leased and financed collateral through replevin and sequestration (Louisiana) proceedings, obtaining and enforcing judgments, making claims in succession proceedings, and protecting our client’s financial and collateral position when a consumer and/or commercial bankruptcy is filed. We routinely represent auto finance companies in state and federal courts, as well as bankruptcy courts across the country.

In addition to working with clients in connection with troubled accounts, we routinely provide bankruptcy and repossession compliance advice and assistance, such as with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), state, and Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) requirements.

Attorneys in McGlinchey’s Intellectual Property practice secure and defend vital patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret rights. The team has extensive technical experience handling issues including filing, prosecution, litigation, and counsel. From chemical manufacturing to information technology companies and research centers, these professionals have counseled clients on innovations that are revolutionizing their respective industries.

The IP team is also adept at representing clients’ interests relating to loan transactions, joint development agreements, licensing and rights management, franchising concerns, and software development.

• Assisted a bank in negotiating and providing licensing, documentation, and policy advice as it explored expanding its recreation vehicle and marine direct lending and sales finance program across the United States through a co-branded program with a major powersport manufacturer.
• Serve as lead outside compliance counsel to one of the largest buy-here pay-here motor vehicle finance companies in the country. Our team is responsible for the ongoing development, enhancement, and annual updates to the client’s 35-state forms program for used motor vehicle sales and financing. Also assisted with litigation and business strategy relating to a state attorney general investigation and tortious interference with business claims.
• Serve as primary outside compliance counsel to a nonbank automotive finance company. Assisted with a significant bulk portfolio acquisition, including advising the company on state licensing issues to purchase and service the accounts, conducting a due diligence review of the portfolio, advising on the terms of the purchase agreement, and providing related strategic counsel.
• Advised a nationwide buy-here pay-here auto finance company on its multi-year project to review and update its nationwide repossession systems, processes, and notices as these are a major source of regulatory scrutiny and litigation risk. Our team provided compliance and licensing advice as the company underwent a strategic reorganization that resulted in the realignment of credit origination and collection services. We assisted the company in responding to numerous legal and operational issues raised by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau in connection with origination and servicing examinations. We also engaged in a major audit and update to all of their consumer facing credit origination documents.
• Represented multiple auto finance companies and financial institutions in more than seven Ohio Class actions brought under the Ohio Retail Installment Sales Act, and Article 9 of the Ohio Uniform Commercial Code arising from post-repossession notices, deficiency notices and commercially unreasonable sales of repossessed vehicles.
• Prepared and represented witnesses at CFPB investigative hearing as counsel for indirect auto lender in CFPB investigation covering a range of fair lending/compliance issues.
• Defended numerous of captive auto finance companies in class actions in New York, Ohio, and Florida in alleged violations of: - FCRA due to re-aging of information furnished to credit reporting agencies - FCRA and Bankruptcy Code due to collection of discharged debts and furnishing inaccurate credit information to credit reporting agency - motor vehicle leasing law due to dealer fraud - TCPA and Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act alleging calls were placed to customers known to be represented by counsel
• Defended auto finance companies in class actions alleging violations of Missouri’s Uniform Commercial Code based upon content of post-repossession notices, and of New Jersey consumer protection statutes relating to fees assessed by repossession agents for storage of personal property located in repossessed vehicles.
• Represented a national floor plan lender in tri-party workout of $20 million factoring arrangement.
• Protected interests of floor plan lenders in the numerous bankruptcies of motor vehicle dealerships as regional counsel.
• Represented bank in connection with a loan to an auto premium finance company in a matter involving complicated insurance regulatory and UCC issues.
• Representation of clients in matters being considered by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and/or one of its working groups.
• Representation involving drafting of managing general agent agreements, service agreements, cost sharing agreements, and tax allocation agreements.
• Representation of Detroit Big 3 manufacturer in connection with client’s initial foray into aftermarket sales of ancillary products, including motor vehicle service contracts, guaranteed asset/automobile protection, tire and wheel protection, and the like. Provided program regulatory review and structure, contractual documentation advice, and consultation of rollout in all 51 U.S. jurisdictions.
• Representation of heavy trucking manufacturer in connection with the creation of a 50-state commercial after-market warranty program.
• Representation of nationwide motor vehicle company in connection with insurance regulatory constraints on the sales, solicitation, negotiation, or referral of credit insurance and ancillary products and services throughout client’s U.S. market as well as associated consumer lending issues.