🚨 Uber’s FTC Battle, Crypto's Big Bank Moves, Crumbl’s Cookie Chaos, and FHFA Hits Pause | Marketing's Most Wanted

Hi Marketing Wranglers,

This week is a wild ride across tech, crypto, cookies, and housing.

From Uber getting hit for making it “too hard to cancel,” to crypto companies eyeing official bank charters, to Crumbl Cookies facing a $24 million lawsuit over unlicensed music on TikTok — compliance headaches are everywhere. Plus, the FHFA decided not to raise mortgage loan limits (for now), keeping the housing market status quo in place.

🚨 In This Week’s Issue

🚨 Uber vs. FTC: Why shady subscription tactics are backfiring — and what it means for your product flows.

🏦 Crypto’s Charter Era: How regulation is shaping crypto marketing and customer trust.

🍪 Crumbl’s $24M Music Problem: Influencer marketing gone wrong, and the real cost of ignoring music licensing.

🏡 FHFA and Loan Limits: What steady loan limits mean for fintechs and mortgage marketers.

🚨 Uber vs. FTC: When Unsubscribing Becomes Mission Impossible

The FTC has slammed Uber with a lawsuit that's sending shivers through the subscription economy. The charge? Turning their Uber One subscription service into something resembling an elaborate escape room.

According to federal regulators, Uber's premium subscription service employed tactics that would make even the craftiest carnival barker blush - from sneaky auto-enrollments to a cancellation process requiring up to 32 separate actions across 23 screens. That's more steps than assembling IKEA furniture!

What Happened?

Uber promised subscribers would save $25 monthly with their $9.99 subscription. Math wizards might notice something immediately: that's technically a $15.01 savings... if you actually use all the benefits. The FTC wasn't impressed with this fuzzy math, especially with high-visibility partnerships with Capital One credit cards.

Even worse, some users reportedly found themselves charged before their "free trial" even ended. Oops! Just a little billing glitch? The FTC doesn't think so.

Uber's cancellation process is really at the heart of the issue here. While signing up took just a few taps, canceling required navigating a labyrinth that would make Theseus sweat (yes, our references are going back to ancient greece):

• Multiple screens with persuasive "please stay" messaging

• Buried cancellation options

• A process so convoluted that many users simply gave up

This isn't just annoying design—it's potentially illegal under the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, which requires straightforward cancellation processes for online services.

What Does This Mean For You?

The lawsuit delivers some sobering lessons for any company with a subscription model:

1. Your Dark Patterns Are Showing: Those clever UX tricks to keep users subscribed? They're now regulatory liabilities.

2. Growth Hacking ≠ Truth Bending: Every claim about savings and value needs to hold up to mathematical scrutiny.

3. Political Connections Won't Save You: Despite Uber's CEO making a $1M donation to Trump's inauguration fund, the FTC under the Trump administration still pulled the trigger on this lawsuit.

What’s Next?

With Uber One boasting over 30 million subscribers (up 60% from last year), the stakes couldn't be higher. The message is clear: if your retention strategy relies on customers not being able to figure out how to leave, you might be next on the FTC's hit list.

For marketers and product teams, it's time to ask: Does your cancellation flow pass the "grandma test"? If your grandmother would get frustrated trying to cancel, you might want to simplify things before the regulators come knocking.

After all, the best customer retention strategy isn't a maze—it's actually delivering value worth paying for.

Read more on The NY Times.

🏦 Crypto’s Charter Era: Regulation Is Back on the Table

Remember when crypto was going to tear down the banking establishment and free us all from financial overlords? Well, plot twist! The biggest crypto players are now quietly sliding into the DMs of banking regulators, trying to become the very institutions they once swore to disrupt.

Less than three years after crypto-friendly banks like Silvergate and Signature collapsed (taking a chunk of the industry's credibility with them), major crypto companies are now attempting a fascinating transformation. Coinbase, Circle, BitGo, and Paxos are reportedly exploring various banking charter options.

The Banking Menu: Choose Your Regulatory Adventure

These crypto giants are considering several paths to financial respectability:

• National trust charters from the OCC

• Industrial loan company (ILC) charters (Utah loves these)

• Full state or national bank charters with actual deposit-taking powers

• Special licenses to issue stablecoins (pending legislation that might eventually cross the finish line)

This isn't just a legal costume change—it's a identity makeover.

Here's where it gets particularly spicy: some of these crypto companies have fascinating political connections. BitGo is reportedly helping custody reserves for USD1—a stablecoin being developed by the Trump family's World Liberty Financial. Meanwhile, Cantor Fitzgerald (with ties to crypto lenders like Anchorage and Copper) has deep connections to Tether and former Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

What Does This Mean for Crypto Marketing?

If these firms secure charters, marketing teams will need to immediately burn all those "DISRUPTING FINANCE!" billboards. The edgy crypto rebel aesthetic must transform overnight into something that screams "responsible financial institution." After all, saying you’re different than a bank when you are a bank has been dominating sanctions for years.

Those same marketers who once boasted about being "outside the system" will now need to craft messages about how wonderfully inside the system they are.

Holding a charter means answering to a whole alphabet soup of regulators: OCC, FDIC, state banking authorities, and potentially the Fed. For marketing teams, this means:

• Rewriting everything with new disclosures

• Completely revamping customer onboarding flows

• Auditing all content for compliance with banking regulations

In other words, the compliance team is about to become the most popular (and feared) department in the building.

The Bottom Line

The crypto industry's journey from revolutionary outsiders to banking insiders is both ironic and inevitable. As these companies trade in their hoodies for banking suits, they're discovering that those suits come with a lot of pockets—and each pocket is filled with regulatory requirements.

For consumers, this might ultimately mean more stability and security in crypto services. For the companies themselves, it means learning to speak a new language: one where "disruption" gets replaced with "compliance" and "to the moon!" becomes "steady, regulated growth within acceptable parameters."

Welcome to the new crypto normal—it looks surprisingly like the old.

 🍪Sweet Chaos: Crumbl’s $24M Music Mishap with Warner Music

Crumbl Cookies might be experts at mixing dough, but their music mixing skills have landed them in hot water! Warner Music Group has filed a lawsuit accusing the beloved cookie chain of using a whopping 159 hit songs without proper licensing in their social media marketing.

What Happened?

According to WMG, Crumbl wasn't just playing background tunes while showing off their treats. They were strategically pairing songs with themed cookies to maximize those sweet, sweet engagement metrics:

• Promoting Blueberry Cheesecake cookies with Lil Mosey's "Blueberry Faygo"

• Selling Yellow Sugar cookies to the tune of Coldplay's "Yellow"

• Marketing Kentucky Butter Cake with BTS' "Butter"

The lawsuit claims Crumbl specifically used the catchiest parts of these songs—the hooks and choruses that get stuck in your head—to create emotional connections with customers.

Making matters worse, Warner says they sent a cease-and-desist letter back in 2023, which Crumbl apparently ignored.

In fact, Crumbl even acknowledged the situation in a TikTok video this year, joking about not being able to use "trending audios" anymore. That public admission could be the ingredient that turns this into a case of willful infringement.

Warner is now seeking up to $150,000 per song, potentially serving Crumbl with a bill for nearly $24 million, plus a permanent injunction.

Why It Matters For Marketers

This case serves as a slightly sour reminder that music licensing isn't optional, even in the wild west of social media marketing. Those trending sounds might help your content rise like perfect cookie dough, but unauthorized use can lead to legal complications that no amount of frosting can fix.

For marketers everywhere, the lesson is clear: always ensure your social content, ads, and influencer partnerships use properly licensed music. Otherwise, your sweet marketing strategy might leave a very expensive aftertaste.

Check out Digital Music News for more details.

🏡 Loan Limits Stay Put: FHFA Isn’t Touching That

In what might be the least surprising plot twist of 2025, newly crowned FHFA Director Bill Pulte has announced that those sky-high conforming loan limits aren't budging.

That's right, mortgage enthusiasts – $806,500 remains the magic number for how much Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will back on your home loan.

What Happened?

For those who don't speak "mortgage nerd," this means the government will continue guaranteeing loans up to that juicy $806,500 figure (and even higher in pricey areas like San Francisco where the limit exceeds $1 million). That's a hefty 5.2% jump from last year's limit, because apparently, home prices refuse to stop climbing.

What About the Political Environment?

This decision comes amid the Trump administration's supposed agenda to shrink the government's role in, well, everything.

Fannie and Freddie currently backstop $12 trillion in mortgages – that's trillion with a "T," folks – making them the elephants in the room of any small-government discussion.

Some critics argue that federal backing of million-dollar mortgages is a bit much. "Let the private market handle those luxury loans!" they cry. But as Eric Hagen from BTIG points out, it's complicated:

"The question is how much mortgage rates for jumbo borrowers might need to increase to support it... all of which could be highly sensitive to timing and interest rates."

Translation for normal humans: Mess with this system now, and you might accidentally set the housing market on fire. Not ideal in a country that may be headed to a recession.

Yet, Pulte recently took to social media with videos touring the eerily empty offices of Fannie and Freddie. Row after row of vacant desks.

Was this a subtle hint about future downsizing? A profound statement on remote work? Or just a new boss wondering where the heck everybody went? Either way it’s concerning.

The Key Takeaway

For now, your government-backed McMansion dreams remain intact! Lenders, fintechs, and housing advocates will be watching Pulte's every move like hawks.

Read more on CNBC.

We’re now helping insurance brokers and mortgage lenders with marketing compliance.

At Warrant, we help your marketing and customer-facing teams stay compliant while streamlining approvals and recordkeeping. Book a call with us here.