4 The consumer financial services industry began 2017 with optimism, as well as considerable uncertainty with the new Administration in the White House, knowing only that the year would bring change. And change it did bring (along with some drama that the new Administration is known to stir). Looking back now at the leadership change at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the turnover experienced at various regulatory agencies, the continued rise of state-level actors, and the new rules, lawsuits, and enforcement actions of 2017, has provided the industry with lessons learned and portends what is ahead for 2018. In order to stay competitive—and to avoid government and public scrutiny and costly consumer litigation—lenders must stay on top and ahead of changes in the law, new regulatory interpretations, and shifting legislative and enforcement priorities. Through our LenderLaw Watch and Consumer Finance Enforcement Watch blogs, Goodwin’s Financial Industry Practice analyzed key industry, legal, and regulatory developments and provided real-time reporting on a range of federal and state consumer finance enforcement activity, keeping our clients current and informed on the latest happenings and their impact on the industry. We also continued to develop and grow our proprietary database of information on enforcement actions, allowing us to provide interactive data and quantitative enforcement trend analysis in real-time. In this year-end review, we synthesize our prior coverage of the most significant developments from 2017, and offer some predications on what the industry might expect in 2018 in the mortgage, credit card, student lending, credit reporting, auto lending, payday lending, debt collection and debt settlement, and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) areas, with a focus on changes we expect the new CFPB leadership and the current Administration will bring to bear on the industry. OVERVIEW KEY TRENDS 2017 began with optimism among the industry about the change in Administration, but uncertainty as to the Administration’s legislative, regulatory, and enforcement priorities. As the year took hold, we observed that state enforcement activity held steady, while federal enforcement activity gradually trended downward. Total damages, penalties, and costs obtained through enforcement actions decreased even more significantly this past year. And although federal agencies—notably, the CFPB—continued their track record of industry reform through regulations and rules, many of those regulations were met with resistance or repeal by Congress, or were ignored by the Administration. The future of such regulations—some years in the making— may depend on the identity of the next director of the CFPB, and the results of the 2018 midterm elections. We tracked a slight decrease in enforcement activity in 2017, largely attributable to the decrease in activity by several federal agencies, and a noticeable decline in actions related to auto lending. State enforcement was generally in line with 2015 and 2016 activity, but federal