As Inauguration Day approaches, the rhetoric about the CFPB’s future continues to heat up. American Banker reported that, on a conference call with reporters earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer stated that that he would not support legislation to replace the CFPB’s single-director leadership with a five-person commission.

Such a change in the CFPB’s leadership structure is among the changes to the CFPB proposed by the CHOICE Act, the bill released in July 2016 by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling to replace the Dodd-Frank Act and passed by the Committee in September 2016. … Continue Reading

The CFPB has released an overview of an updated online company portal for viewing and responding to consumer complaints that it plans to launch in early 2017.

The overview is intended to serve “only as a first glance at the updated system and is designed to highlight key Portal updates and changes.”  … Continue Reading

The California federal district court judge who is presiding over the CFPB’s lawsuit against CashCall and several related companies that funded, purchased, serviced, and collected online installment loans has granted the defendants’ motion to certify an interlocutory appeal of the district court’s August 31, 2016 order to the Ninth Circuit.  That order granted the CFPB’s motion for partial summary judgment and denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. … Continue Reading

As rumors swirl that President-elect Trump is planning to remove Director Cordray immediately after January 20th, conflicting views have emerged about his authority to do so before the appeal in PHH is resolved.  We previously blogged about an article written by Aditya Bamzai, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, that asserted the new President could remove Director Cordray while the PHH appeal is pending if the Executive Branch determines that the Dodd-Frank Act’s “for cause” restriction on removal is unconstitutional. … Continue Reading

Last Friday, the D.C. Circuit entered an order granting PHH’s motion for leave to file a supplemental response to the CFPB’s petition for rehearing en banc.  On December 22, PHH and the United States filed responses to the CFPB’s petition with the D.C. Circuit.

In its motion for leave to file a supplemental response, PHH asserted that, in its response, the United States argued that the D.C.… Continue Reading

At a panel discussion today on the prepaid account rule, held as part of the meeting of the American Bar Association Committee on Consumer Financial Services in Carlsbad, CA, Kristine Andreassen, the team leader for the CFPB prepaid account rule, left the door open for changes to be made and said that the Bureau wants to hear about problems or issues with the rule.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has published a final rule to adjust for inflation the civil penalties within its jurisdiction.  The adjustments are required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 which, pursuant to a 2015 amendment, required federal agencies to adjust the civil penalties within their jurisdiction by July 1, 2016 and by January 15 every year thereafter. … Continue Reading

Battle lines over Director Cordray’s future at the CFPB are predictably forming along party lines.  Earlier this week, two Republican senators sent a letter to Vice President-elect Pence urging Director Cordray’s removal by President-elect Trump.  Also earlier this week, a group of 21 Democratic members of the House Financial Services Committee, including ranking member Maxine Waters, sent a letter to President-elect Trump “to caution [him] against entering into a protracted-and likely unsuccessful-legal battle to oust [Director Cordray] before his term expires in July 2018.”… Continue Reading

We have previously written about the Congressional Review Act (“CRA”), which was enacted as part of the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996.  The CRA created a fast-track legislative process for Congress to nullify a covered federal rule by passing a joint resolution of disapproval that would then be presented to the President for approval or veto. … Continue Reading

Early this morning, the CFPB released the findings of its national debt collection consumer survey.  Both the headline of the CFPB’s press release and Director Cordray’s remarks highlight the survey’s finding that “over one-in-four consumers contacted by debt collectors feel threatened” during the collections process.  The press release also highlights likely areas of on-going CFPB focus with respect to collections: failing to honor cease-and-desist requests, collecting on debt impacted by incorrect information (e.g.,… Continue Reading