On June 6 of last year, Prof. Hal Scott of Harvard Law School was our podcast guest. On that occasion he delved into the thought-provoking question of whether the Supreme Court’s decision on May 16 in the landmark case of CFSA v. CFPB really hands the CFPB a winning outcome, or does the Court’s validation of the agency’s statutory funding structure simply open up another question – namely, whether the CFPB is legally permitted under Dodd-Frank to receive funds from the Federal Reserve even though the Federal Reserve Banks have lost money on a combined basis since September 2022.… Continue Reading

Saying that independent agencies “have exercised enormous power over the American people without Presidential oversight,” President Trump has issued an Executive Order placing those agencies under his control.

While Trump specifically mentioned the FTC, FCC and SEC, the definition of “agency” used in the order also includes such financial regulators as the FDIC, OCC, CFPB and NCUA.… Continue Reading

A federal judge has issued an order temporarily prohibiting the Trump Administration from imposing mass layoffs and budget cuts at the CFPB.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia has scheduled a March 3 hearing in the suit filed by the National Treasury Employees Union, the National Consumer Law Center, the NAACP, the Virginia Poverty Law Center, Pastor Eva Steege and the CFPB Employee Association.… Continue Reading

On October 16, 2024, the Bank Policy Institute and the Clearing House Association filed a motion to intervene in Corner Post, Inc. v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. On July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court sided with Corner Post in holding that a Section 702 claim under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to challenge a final agency action first accrues when the plaintiff is injured by final agency action and has the right to assert it in court.… Continue Reading

As we have previously reported, there are several CFPB enforcement lawsuits pending in which the defendants have filed motions to dismiss based in whole or in part on the argument that subsequent to September 2022, all funding received by the CFPB from the Federal Reserve Board has been unlawfully received. That is a result of the fact that the Federal Reserve System began then to incur substantial losses after September 2022 which continue to this day with no profits being foreseen in the near future.… Continue Reading

The Bank Policy Institute (“BPI”) has issued its comment on the Federal Functional Regulators’ (the OCC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the FDIC, and the National Credit Union Administration) notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) to modernize financial institutions’ anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing (“AML/CFT”) programs (“Comment”).… Continue Reading

The CFPB, Fed, and OCC have announced that they are increasing exemption thresholds that are subject to annual inflation adjustments.  Effective January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025, these exemption thresholds are increased as follows:

  • The 2025 threshold for higher-priced mortgage loans that are subject to special appraisal requirements will increase from $32,400 to $33,500.
Continue Reading

On July 25, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (collectively, the agencies) issued a “Joint Statement on Banks’ Arrangements with Third Parties to Deliver Bank Deposit Products and Services” to “note potential risks related to arrangements between banks and third parties to deliver bank deposit products and services to end users”.… Continue Reading

On August 26, 2024, Chief Judge Randy Crane in the S.D. Texas granted summary judgment to the CFPB, denied summary judgment to the trade groups and upheld the validity of the CFPB’s small business data collection rule. However, the Judge still needs to rule on a motion to amend the complaint and a motion for judgment on the pleadings.… Continue Reading

We have previously blogged about how targets of CFPB enforcement actions have asserted that the actions must be dismissed because the investigations were conducted and the lawsuits were brought and are being prosecuted with funds unlawfully obtained from the Federal Reserve Board at a time when the Federal Reserve System had no combined earnings.… Continue Reading