Cadwalader attorneys
described the implications to the structured finance industry
of an enforcement action brought by the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau ("CFPB") against the National
Collegiate Student Loan Trusts. In September 2017, the CFPB alleged
that National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts violated consumer
financial protection laws in connection with student loan debt
collection practices.
As described more fully in the Cadwalader Memorandum, the
CFPB's Proposed Consent Judgment contains terms that would
effectively alter contracts affecting the underlying securitization
trusts at issue. The attorneys state that by purporting to alter
and thereby effectively rewrite these agreements, the CFPB's
Proposed Consent Judgment upended well-established and
long-standing market expectations. They concluded that the result
threatens to undermine investor confidence, destabilize the student
loan securitization market and, paradoxically, restrict student
access to