Last month, Republican Congressman Jeb Hensarling, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, released a summary of “The Financial CHOICE Act,” a bill to replace the Dodd-Frank Act.  The summary indicated that the bill would include a series of CFPB reforms, including a change in the CFPB’s name to the “Consumer Financial Opportunity Commission,” replacement of the current single director with a bipartisan, five-member commission, funding of the commission through the appropriations process, repeal of the CFPB’s authority to prohibit consumer financial services or products it deems “abusive” and prohibit or impose conditions or limitations on the use of arbitration agreements.… Continue Reading

The Independent Community Bankers of America and the Credit Union National Association have sent a letter to Director Cordray “to express serious concerns” about the CFPB’s proposed rule covering single-payment payday and auto title loans, deposit advance products, and certain high-rate installment and open-end loans.

ICBA and CUNA state that the proposal “if finalized in its current form, would unquestionably disrupt lending by credit unions and community banks.” … Continue Reading

On June 23, PHH filed a letter in the D.C. Circuit supplementing its appeal briefing in PHH Corp v. CFPB, No. 15-1177. For those of you who may have missed our prior posts on this, PHH is appealing a decision made by CFPB Director Richard Cordray while sitting as the CFPB’s administrative appellate judge.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has published a final rule regarding various annual adjustments it is required to make under provisions of Regulation Z (TILA) that implement the CARD Act, HOEPA, and the ability to repay/qualified mortgage provisions of Dodd-Frank.  The adjustments reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index in effect on June 1, 2016 and will take effect January 1, 2017.… Continue Reading

The CFPB filed suit against J.G. Wentworth, LLC on June 7, 2016 after the company challenged the Bureau’s expansive view of its jurisdiction.

The CFPB served a CID against J.G. Wentworth, LLC on September 11, 2015 to investigate alleged violations of consumer protection laws. J.G. Wentworth purchases structured settlements and annuities from consumers for lump sums.… Continue Reading

Republican Congressman Matt Salmon has introduced a bill, the “CFPB Data Accountability Act ” (H.R. 5413), that would impose requirements on how the CFPB handles consumer complaints.

The requirements include the following: (1) consumer complaint information could only be presented on the CFPB’s website in an aggregated format, (2) complaint information included in such aggregated information would have to be verified if  the complaint alleges a violation of a law, regulation, or contractual agreement, and (3) complaint information about a particular consumer financial product or service could only be made publicly available on the CFPB’s website if the information is accompanied by “statistics on how many consumer complaints the Bureau receives with respect to the particular consumer financial product or service compared to the total number of consumers making use of such consumer financial product or service.”… Continue Reading

The CFPB has published an interim 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, requires federal agencies to adjust the civil penalties within their jurisdiction by July 1, 2016 and then by January 15 every year thereafter.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has unveiled its latest “Know Before You Owe” initiative aimed at consumers shopping for an auto loan.  The new initiative was accompanied by the CFPB’s release of a report entitled “Consumer Voices on Automobile Financing” that is intended to share the CFPB’s research about how consumers approach decisions about auto financing.… Continue Reading

On June 22, 2016, the CFPB will host a webinar on recent updates to its eRegulations tool.  Acting Deputy Director David Silberman will be a webinar speaker.

eRegulations is a tool available on the CFPB’s website that can be used to search regulations and view the official commentary with the corresponding rule text. … Continue Reading

The CFPB has filed a supplemental amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Bock v. Pressler & Pressler, LLP, the case in which the district court ruled that a debt collection law firm violated the FDCPA by filing a complaint without “meaningful attorney involvement.” … Continue Reading