Auto Finance

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Bradley’s experienced attorneys advise clients in all facets of automotive consumer finance. We provide full-service representation to banks, non-bank private lenders, and captive automotive lenders on critical matters, including automotive finance regulations, compliance, government enforcement, and litigation, as well as licensing and insurance. Our attorneys have significant experience with installment contract compliance and litigation, servicing, and portfolio purchases and sales.

Our team comprises attorneys with deep interdisciplinary knowledge of the automotive field. We understand the players, their values and priorities, and how financial services fit into the larger picture of the industry. The firm also boasts a deep bench of lawyers focused on general financial services, litigation, and government enforcement, if such knowledge is required.

Our partners have experience both in-house at financial institutions and with regulatory agencies, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and have built a reputation for credibility and integrity in the industry. Bradley attorneys are leaders in developing state and federal law concerning arbitration clauses in the automotive finance context, are intimately familiar with the CFPB’s proposed arbitration rulemaking, and are at the forefront of emerging issues such as disparate impact.

We believe in taking proactive measures to avoid investigations, enforcement, and litigation whenever possible. Our attorneys advise automotive lenders regarding compliance with a litany of state and federal consumer credit statutes to shield their exposure to harmful fines and penalties.

Bradley’s regulatory and compliance services for automotive finance clients include:

  • Advising clients on day-to-day compliance with all applicable federal consumer protection laws, including the Truth in Lending Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Electronic Funds Transfer Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and Consumer Leasing Act.
  • Helping clients with compliance with state repossession noticing statutes, installment contract requirements, state regulatory guidance, and federal consumer protection statutes
  • Providing services related to maintaining compliance with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Dodd-Frank regulations, such as conducting risk assessments, gap analyses, mock audits, and other reviews of account records, policies, procedures, forms, and all levels of operation
  • Assisting clients in responding to state and federal regulatory inquiries
  • Helping clients develop more robust compliance and best-practice programs, often under the guidance of pending consent orders or regulatory directives

When a dispute lands our clients in a courtroom, Bradley lawyers have the skills to successfully defend litigation, from initial assessment all the way through trial and appeal, if necessary. Our attorneys are trusted to defend the most sensitive cases, including class action matters with significant business and reputational risks to our clients. At the same time, our attorneys also assist automotive lenders with a variety of smaller state and federal court litigation matters.

Among the litigation services we provide our clients are:

  • Defending automotive lenders against claims brought under the Truth in Lending Act and Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
  • Litigating consumer claims brought against clients concerning data furnisher reporting and reinvestigation
  • Litigating disputes concerning dealer fraud, title releases, and consumer fraud claims on behalf of automotive lender clients
  • Advising clients concerning disparate impact issues and defending lawsuits brought in the context of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act
  • Providing other litigation support involving financial services, privacy and information security, bankruptcy, and appellate work
The firm's licensing attorneys assist clients in all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and relevant U.S. territories. Our licensing attorneys advise clients concerning dealer floor plan financing, state installment contract requirements, and other state and federal lending statutes. Bradley attorneys also are regularly engaged to assist in strategic acquisitions of licensed entities and work with relevant regulatory agencies to secure the necessary approvals to allow strategic acquisitions to take place.
Bradley attorneys have decades of experience in providing sophisticated representation on automobile insurance matters. Our lawyers are well-equipped to provide advice on Guaranteed Auto Protection (GAP) insurance offerings, federal and state insurance regulations, and on GAP insurance risk transfer transactions.