Marketplace Lender’s Lawsuit Against California DFPI Challenges “True Lender” Recharacterization

Marketplace lender Opportunity Financial, LLC has gone on the offensive against the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation to protect its bank partnership program against challenge on a “true lender” theory. On March 7, 2022, OppFi filed suit against the DFPI to ask the state court to declare that FinWise Bank, a Utah-chartered bank, is the true lender of loans facilitated through OppFi’s online platform and funded by the bank. Read more about OppFi’s action and other recent activity on the true lender front at the federal and state level in Mayer Brown’s Legal Update.