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The CFPB announced earlier this week that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that is intended to “help to identify and end financial practices that harm workers and to enhance the enforcement of federal consumer financial protection and labor laws and regulations.” … Continue Reading

The CFPB has issued a proposal that would make significant changes to the current rules for credit card late fees, including substantially reducing the safe harbor late fee amounts that card issuers can charge and eliminating annual inflation adjustments.  After reviewing the legislative and regulatory history of the current rules, we look at the CFPB’s flawed rationale for reducing the safe harbor to a flat $8 for all late payments, identify the serious flaws in its economic analysis of the likely effects of the reduction, and discuss how the proposal relates to the Biden Administration’s junk fees initiative. … Continue Reading

A group of 17 Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee have sent a letter to CFPB Director Chopra regarding the CFPB’s credit card late fees proposal.

The concerns raised by the lawmakers in the letter include the following:

  • Commenting on the CFPB’s failure in 2022 to adjust the Regulation Z late fee safe harbor amounts for inflation, the lawmakers note that the CFPB “has yet to explain or justify why there was not an increase in the most recent annual adjustment announcement –a striking lack of transparency and accountability, and especially so in an era of outsized inflation.”
… Continue Reading

As previously reported, in June 2021 the CFPB announced that it would conduct a voluntary review of the significant amendments to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rule adopted in October 2015, most of which became effective in January 2018.  The CFPB also announced at the time that it was discontinuing planned HMDA rulemakings, one addressing the data points that must be collected and reported and one addressing the public disclosure of HMDA data. … Continue Reading

The witnesses have been announced for the hearing on the CFPB to be held on March 9, 2023 by the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy.  They are:

  • Bill Himpler, CEO, American Financial Services Association
  • Brian Johnson, Managing Director, Patomak Global Partners LLC
  • Jessica Thompson, Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
  • Devin Watkins, Attorney, Competitive Enterprise Institute
  • Keith Ellison, Attorney General, State of Minnesota

The Committee Memorandum was also released. … Continue Reading

The CFPB has issued a new report ,“Consumer Use of Buy Now, Pay Later: Insights from the CFPB Making Ends Meet Survey,” that looks at the financial profiles of consumers who use buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) products. 

The report uses data from the CFPB’s 2022 Making Ends Meet survey (responses of 2,036 consumers) and the CFPB’s Consumer Credit Panel.  … Continue Reading

On March 9, 2023, the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy will hold a hearing entitled “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Ripe for Reform.”  The witnesses for the hearing have not yet been announced.

The hearing will represent the first hearing held by the House Financial Services Committee focused on the CFPB since Republicans took control of the House in January 2023 and Patrick McHenry replaced Maxine Waters as Committee Chair.… Continue Reading

The CFPB and other federal agencies with the responsibility to enforce the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and/or Fair Housing Act (FHAct), recently sent a joint letter to The Appraisal Foundation (TAF) expressing concerns with the Fourth Exposure Draft of Proposed Changes for the 2023 Edition of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). … Continue Reading

A new CFPB report, “Issue Spotlight: Public Benefits Delivery & Consumer Protection,” looks at what it describes as “the challenges that recipients of public benefits programs offering cash assistance encounter in accessing funds.”  The report focuses on cash assistance provided on prepaid cards because the CFPB has observed “specific recurring issues arising with the provision of benefits by that method.”… Continue Reading

The CFPB recently issued two proposals that would require nonbanks to register with and submit information to the CFPB for publication in an online, publicly available database.  The proposals represent an aggressive attempt by the CFPB to enhance its supervisory and enforcement authorities and carry significant potential implications for nonbanks that would be required to register.… Continue Reading