On December 19, 2025, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law Senate Bill 8416 (titled the “Fostering Affordability and Integrity through Reasonable (FAIR) Business Practices Act”) amending New York’s Consumer Protection Law, General Business Law 349. The FAIR Act was an Attorney General Program Bill. The law takes effect 60-days from the Governor’s signature.

RMAI’s Advocacy

RMAI was actively involved in advising the New York Attorney General’s Office on our concerns related to the FAIR Act from its proposed introduction. All told RMAI had four in-person meetings with AG staff in both New York City and Albany in April and May. From the start, RMAI was concerned the bill would: (1) create “no injury/no harm” private right of action where consumers (or even consumer advocacy organizations) could file lawsuits solely because they believed an act was unfair, abusive, or deceptive; (2) have awarded statutory damages and actual damages even when there was no injury or harm; and (3) have required the publishing of settlements. RMAI partnered with the Business Council of New York State on getting these and other amendments.

While not a private right of action, the legislation does permit New York’s Attorney General to bring actions for “unfair” or “abusive” conduct, in addition to the existing statutory deceptive practices provisions.

Unfair Practices

The definition of “unfairness,” closely aligns with the standard most recently adopted by the Federal Trade Commission. Under the amended New York law, an act is unfair only if “it causes or is likely to cause substantial injury which is not reasonably avoidable and is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition” (emphasis added). Other states, like Massachusetts and Hawaii, require only substantial injury.

Abusive Practices

The amended act’s definition of abusive conduct closely aligns with that contained in the federal Consumer Financial Protection Act, 12 U.S.C. § 5531(d), (part of the Dodd-Frank Act). Conduct is abusive if: (1) it materially interferes with the ability of a  person to  understand a term or condition of a product or service; or (2) it takes unreasonable advantage of (A) a lack of understanding on the part of a person of the material risks, costs, or conditions of a product or service; (B) the inability of a person to protect such  person’s  interests in selecting or using a product or service; or (C) the reasonable reliance by a person on a person engaging in the act or practice to act in the relying person’s interests.

Additional information on the FAIR Act is available here.

RMAI would encourage its members to share this Member Alert with its legal counsel and compliance staff.

This Member Alert is intended for members of the Receivables Management Association International, is for informational purposes only, and is in no way intended to provide legal advice. Members are encouraged to consult with an attorney of their choice for legal advice concerning this matter.