On April 3, 2020 the SBA launched its Payment Protect Program for small business loans. On that same day the first class action suit was filed against a major bank because of its PPP loan procedures. The suit was filed before the first loan would be funded.When there is any possible error, customers and attorney’s are ready to tell you about it. How’s that for fast!

What must you prepare for? Paraphrased, here is what one circuit court said, “consumers are protected from a company’s deception, even if they never actually read its disclosures.” The world of compliance is different when you consider UDAAP/UDAP. What you say must be accurate. What you do must be what you said. And customers must be treated fairly as there is no referring to the fine print. UDAAP is not a bright line test and those who are critical of a product or service can use this subjectivity to their advantage. You must consider this in developing and advertising products and services and throughout the relationship with your customer.We will look at UDAAP standards, complaint tracking and resolution and enforcement actions, to help you establish a process to avoids criticisms.

You can’t avoid accusations of UDAAP unless you know what it means. We will explore what makes a practice unfair or deceptive by digging into what regulators and the courts have had to say.  We will review the teeth Congress gave to the area when it expanded UDAP to include the second “A” -- “Abusive” to better protect consumers.  We’ll review the definitions that must be used for UDAAP, and what it all means to your bank on a day-to-day basis.

We will explore the role of compliance auditing in the risk management program that will help keep you out of hot water. A core element to prevention is to “nip it in the bud” and that means monitoring complaints, analyzing them at a manager’s level and properly responding to them. Effective complaint management is vital to avoiding that dreaded term examiners use - “a pattern or practice” of doing something that harms your customers. It could be unintentional and subjective. But recognizing and understanding the perception is key.

We will review actual enforcement actions published by regulatory agencies that affect financial institutions of all different sizes.  You’ll learn that UDAAP may be the enforcement vehicle a regulator chooses simply because it has more teeth than a specific regulation.

BONUS:  Webinar participants will receive a Complaint and Inquiries Policy template as part of the course materials.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

This program is designed for those who help manage deposit, loan and operational areas of the bank including compliance, audit, marketing and branch managers who interact with customers regularly.