The clear takeaway from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s first annual report to Congress on enforcement of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is that debt collection will be a major focus of both the CFPB and the Federal Trade Commission in 2012. In addition to giving FDCPA enforcement and rulemaking authority to the CFPB, the Dodd-Frank Act transferred from the FTC to the CFPB responsibility for preparing the annual FDCPA report.… Continue Reading

Last week, the CFPB launched a new interactive online tool it’s calling “Ask CFPB” that contains questions and answers intended to help consumers better understand financial products and services. The questions and answers are divided into three general categories: definitions, explanations of terms and features, and information designed to help consumers navigate various situations (e.g.… Continue Reading

It has been reported that Director Cordray, in a briefing on March 22, stated that CFPB enforcement actions are “in process” but was unwilling to specify when the first cases might be filed. This is consistent with the CFPB’s statement in its first annual report  to Congress on federal enforcement of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act filed on March 20 that the CFPB “currently is conducting non-public investigations of debt collection practices to determine whether they violate the FDCPA or the Dodd-Frank Act.”… Continue Reading

The CFPB wants the public to read the transcript of the field hearing on payday lending it held in Birmingham, Alabama on January 19 and give the CFPB feedback on the issues raised at the hearing. Some of those issues are included in the notice published by the CFPB in the Federal Register which sets an April 23 deadline for receiving comments.… Continue Reading

Section 1028 of Dodd-Frank requires the CFPB to conduct a study of the use of pre-dispute arbitration provisions in consumer financial services contracts. It requires it to provide a report to Congress and to then decide whether to issue a regulation which will prohibit their use if the study concludes that it is not in the consumer’s interest.… Continue Reading

Section 342, a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act we have previously written about but that hasn’t otherwise gotten much attention, could ultimately have a significant impact on the banking, credit union and securities industries. The provision required the establishment of an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) by various federal agencies.… Continue Reading

In a March 14 post  on the CFPB’s blog, Skip Humphrey, who heads the CFPB’s Office of Older Americans, reported on his meeting with Illinois bank regulators and other Illinois officials to discuss the state’s efforts to combat financial elder abuse. Mr. Humphrey noted that Illinois recently enacted a law that requires employees of state banks and other state financial institutions to receive training on how to recognize signs of such abuse.… Continue Reading

The CFPB announced on March 14 that it has begun sharing consumer complaints with the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel database. In addition to the FTC, the database can be accessed by other federal agencies and hundreds of state and local agencies. Last August, the CFPB announced that it had entered into an agreement with the FTC that gave the CFPB access to complaints submitted by others to the database and in which the CFPB agreed to share the consumer complaints it received.… Continue Reading

On March 9, I was on a panel of speakers at a City Bar Center for CLE titled “Consumer Finance Protection After Dodd-Frank:  The New Legislation’s Enhanced Enforcement Structure.”  Deepak Gupta, Senior Counsel for Enforcement Strategy at the CFPB, spoke on the same panel.  During my presentation, I raised serious concerns about a CFPB examination policy under which one or more CFPB enforcement attorneys are accompanying CFPB examiners on all CFPB exams. … Continue Reading

As we reported, apparently unbeknownst to Director Cordray, the CFPB began taking complaints about student loans and vehicle and other consumer loans on March 1. While announcing the opening of its student loan system on the home page of its website, the CFPB’s first mention of the launch of its complaint system for vehicle and other consumer loans appears to be an item posted on March 12 on the CFPB’s blog.… Continue Reading