Shortly after the President appointed Richard Cordray and several members of the NLRB through “recess” appointments, Alan Kaplinsky predicted on this blog that there would be litigation over the validity of the recess appointments first with regard to the NLRB, simply because it was likely to result in a “case or controversy” before anything involving the CFPB. … Continue Reading

Last week, the CFPB released to the public a memo it had sent to consumers and industry members who participated in its “Know Before You Owe” student loan project reporting on the feedback it received. The project, described as the product of the CFPB’s partnership with the Department of Education (“DOE”), solicited comments on a “financial aid shopping sheet” which was actually a draft model financial aid form.… Continue Reading

Last week, a second legislative effort was launched to attempt to fix the much-discussed issue regarding the CFPB’s demands for attorney-client privileged information from banks subject to its supervision.  The new bill, H.R. 3871, seeks to “preserve privilege for information submitted to” the Bureau, but the key text of the legislation may or may not fully address the problem.… Continue Reading

It’s hard not to gasp at the CFPB’s estimate that the final remittance transfer rule will require more than 3.4 million employee hours to implement and an ongoing burden of nearly 4.3 million employee hours annually to comply. The rule, which represents the first example of substantive rulemaking by the CFPB, amends Regulation E (Electronic Fund Transfer Act) to require new disclosures, error resolution procedures, and cancellation and refunds rights for remittance transfers to consumers or businesses in a foreign country.… Continue Reading

On January 30, 2012, the American Bankers Association delivered a comment letter  to the CFPB in which it expressed strong disagreement with the CFPB’s proposed policy statement on “Disclosure of Certain Credit Card Complaint Data“. The ABA expressed concern that the complaint data will not help and may actually mislead consumers because it is “incomplete, unrepresentative, and unverified.”… Continue Reading

A hearing entitled “How will the CFPB Function under Richard Cordray?” was held on January 24 by the House Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs. At that hearing, Mr. Cordray testified that Congress’s failure to amend 12 U.S.C. § 1828(x) to include the Bureau was an oversight and that he would be supportive of a legislative fix.… Continue Reading

This week, the CFPB issued its first Semi-Annual Report to the President and Congress covering its activities through December 31, 2011. The report contains no real surprises, including that the CFPB expects the pace of its work to “intensify” over the next six months. Nevertheless, its description of the CFPB’s structure and recounting of the CFPB’s activities make it worthwhile reading for anyone needing a refresher on what the CFPB has been doing since its launch on July 21, 2011.… Continue Reading

The CFPB and the FTC recently released their long-awaited Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), outlining how they plan to work together on non-bank enforcement, rulemaking and research in the consumer financial services market.  For non-banks subject to the CFPB’s jurisdiction, there is plenty of cause for concern in the MOU, principally arising from the sharing of information between the two agencies.… Continue Reading

 The CFPB has announced the creation of the “Repeat Offenders Against Military Database” (ROAM) to collect information on enforcement actions taken by federal and state officials against perpetrators of financial scams against the military community. According to the CFPB, ROAM is “the first database of its kind” and represents a joint effort with State Attorneys General and the Department of Defense.… Continue Reading

Two recent presentations by CFPB Director Richard Cordray strike me as being “blog-worthy.” First, Director Cordray reported to Congress that the CFPB received $180.2 million of funding from the Federal Reserve System in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 and received an additional $94.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 (the final quarter of calendar 2011).… Continue Reading