President Trump has signed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution nullifying the CFPB’s controversial overdraft rule.

The rule was issued by the Biden Administration and had attracted opposition from Republicans on Capitol Hill and Trump Administration officials. House and Senate Republicans pushed a CRA resolution through Congress, which Trump has now signed, voiding the rule.… Continue Reading

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced May 9 that President Trump intends to nominate Jonathan McKernan, his nominee to head the CFPB, as the Undersecretary of Domestic Finance at Treasury.

The Senate Banking Committee approved McKernan’s nomination to head the CFPB on March 6, but it has not gone to the Senate floor.… Continue Reading

The CFPB will not make enforcement of its Buy Now, Pay Later rule a priority, according to a recent statement.

“The Bureau will instead keep its enforcement and supervision resources focused on pressing threats to consumers, particularly servicemen and veterans,” CFPB officials said in a statement. “The Bureau takes this step in the interest of focusing resources on supporting hard-working American taxpayers, servicemen, veterans, and small businesses.… Continue Reading

Today’s podcast features Stephen Calkins, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and former General Counsel of the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”).

President Trump recently fired, without good cause, the two Democratic members of the FTC, leaving only two Republican members as commissioners. He did this even though the FTC Act provides that a commissioner may be fired by the President only for good cause and that the commission is to be governed by a bi-partisan 5-member commission This is the third time in the past few weeks that Trump has fired without good cause democratic members of other federal agencies; the other two being the National Labor Relations Board (The “NLRB”) and the Merit Selection Protection Board (The “MSPB”).… Continue Reading

Citing cutbacks at the federal level, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has launched a new centralized consumer protection hotline, website and email address to make it easier for state residents to report allegations of scams and resolve financial and insurance issues.

Officials said the effort is part of the Shapiro Administration’s initiative to fill a void left by weakened federal consumer protection.… Continue Reading

The short answer is that the outcome of the Supreme Court hearing (whose oral argument is scheduled for May 15 at 10 am) is of immense importance to all stakeholders in the consumer financial services industry. We will explain why that is the case.

The Fourteenth Amendment states:  “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”… Continue Reading

The CFPB says it wants to scrap a Biden Administration rule that prohibits credit reporting agencies from including medical debts on credit reports, one of many Biden era rules that the Trump Administration has sought to nullify.

The rule had been scheduled to take effect in March, but U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan of the Eastern District of Texas, had issued a 90-day stay.… Continue Reading

The House Financial Services Committee has approved its part of the massive budget bill, saving some $1 billion by, among other things, slashing the CFPB’s budget by more than 60%.

The Committee did so by modifying the bureau’s authority to draw funds from the Federal Reserve’s operating budget, limiting the agency to a maximum of 5% of the Fed’s total operating expenses.… Continue Reading

President Trump recently signed an Executive Order entitled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy“ to eliminate the use of disparate impact liability. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also has indicated that it intends to yet again reconsider its disparate impact rule under the Fair Housing Act.… Continue Reading

The two Democratic NCUA board members ousted by President Trump have filed suit, arguing that their firings violated federal law.

Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, naming President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, NCUA Chairman Kyle Hauptman and others as defendants.… Continue Reading