Dept. of Education Recalls Federal Student Loans from Private Debt Collectors

John L. Culhane, Jr., is known for his work advising on interstate direct and indirect consumer and residential mortgage loan and leasing programs, through both traditional brick-and-mortar facilities and e-commerce. Before joining Ballard Spahr, John was associate counsel with Mellon Bank, N.A.; associate counsel with Bank of America NT&SA; and senior attorney (section chief) with the National Credit Union Administration, the federal agency regulating federal credit unions. John addresses issues involving licensing, advertising and marketing, application processing, privacy, disclosure, pricing, substantive terms, servicing, collection, portfolio sales, and securitization. His regulatory practice includes preparing clients for banking agency and CFPB compliance examinations and assisting in the defense of attorney general investigations and banking agency and CFPB enforcement actions. His clients have ranged from a multibillion-dollar bank holding company, to one of the nation's largest residential mortgage lenders, to a leading provider of financial institution forms and documentation. John is a member of the firm's Fair Lending Team.

Heather Klein counsels financial services clients on complex regulatory and enforcement issues. Businesses and their legal departments regularly call upon Heather to support them in developing and marketing new products, launching and managing third-party relationships, and identifying and remediating risks in origination, servicing, and collections. She serves as a trusted business partner to help guide clients successfully through high-stakes matters, from state and federal regulatory examinations and investigations to multimillion-dollar acquisitions of financial services companies. Heather assists companies that specialize in offering financial products and services to consumers and small businesses, including fintechs, banks, payment processors, and servicers. She also works closely with consumer product companies and educational institutions that provide financing to their customers or students. Heather’s pragmatic approach to her work is informed by an in-depth knowledge of the law and an awareness of litigation and regulatory risks honed by years of experience. She is regarded as an authority on issues facing student loan and income share agreement (ISA) originators, servicers, and investors. Additionally, she frequently advises clients on questions about fair lending and debt collection, and is a regular speaker on these and other topics for in-house lawyers, trade associations, and other professional groups. Heather has worked at the forefront of consumer financial services legal developments since her legal career began. In law school, she was one of the first interns at the CFPB, where she assisted the Implementation Team with setting up the agency’s supervisory and enforcement functions. Her work included analyzing the Bureau’s then-novel authorities in a number of markets, including private student lending and mortgage servicing. Before joining Ballard Spahr, Heather was a fellow in the then-newly created New York Department of Financial Services when the New York Financial Services Law took effect, merging the state’s banking and insurance departments. There, she worked with the new Financial Frauds and Consumer Protection Division to initiate investigations of lender-placed insurance and variable annuities, draft legislation, and probe privacy and data security concerns with mobile wallets.