Yesterday afternoon, President Trump signed into law S.J. Res. 57, the joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that disapproves the CFPB’s Bulletin 2013-2 regarding “Indirect Auto Lending and Compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.”  The Government Accountability Office had determined that the Bulletin, which set forth the CFPB’s disparate impact theory of assignee liability for so-called auto dealer “markup” disparities, was a “rule” subject to override under the CRA.… Continue Reading

We previously reported that Congress might have the opportunity to disapprove the CFPB’s disparate impact theory of assignee liability for so-called auto dealer “markup” disparities because the CFPB Bulletin describing its theory was determined by the General Accountability Office (GAO) to be a “rule” subject to override under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). … Continue Reading

Politico has reported that Republican Senator Jerry Moran has introduced a resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn the CFPB’s 2013 auto finance guidance.

The guidance is set forth in CFPB Bulletin 2013-02, titled “Indirect Auto Lending and Compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act” (Bulletin).  In December 2017, in response to a request from Senator Pat Toomey, the GAO issued a decision concluding that the Bulletin is a “rule” subject to the CRA.… Continue Reading

Congress may have now have the opportunity to disapprove by a simple majority vote the CFPB’s disparate impact theory of assignee liability for so-called dealer “markup” disparities as a result of a determination by the General Accountability Office (GAO) that the CFPB’s Bulletin describing its legal theory is a “rule” subject to override under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).… Continue Reading

In May 2017, we blogged about press reports that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) had accepted a request from Senator Patrick Toomey for a determination concerning whether the CFPB Bulletin 2013-02, titled “Indirect Auto Finance and Compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act,” is a “rule” within the scope of the Congressional Review Act (CRA). … Continue Reading

American Banker has reported that the Government Accountability Office has accepted a request from Senator Pat Toomey on whether the CFPB’s indirect auto finance guidance issued in March 2013 is a “rule” under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).  It reported that the GAO also accepted a similar request from Senator Toomey regarding the leveraged lending guidance issued jointly by the OCC, Fed and FDIC. … Continue Reading

Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee recently released a report, prepared by the Republican Staff of the Committee, titled “Unsafe at Any Bureaucracy, Part III: The CFPB’s Vitiated Legal Case Against Auto Lenders.”  This is the third Republican Staff report examining the automotive ECOA enforcement actions of the CFPB with respect to what its characterizes as a “dealer markup” of the wholesale buy rate established by the assignee of a retail installment sale contract (“RISC”). … Continue Reading

Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee recently released a report, prepared by the Republican Staff of the Committee, which chronicles in detail the controversial automotive ECOA enforcement initiative of the CFPB with respect to what it characterizes as “dealer markup.”  The highly critical nature of the report is encapsulated by its title, which is “Unsafe at Any Bureaucracy:  CFPB Junk Science and Indirect Auto Lending.” … Continue Reading

Yesterday, the following four CFPB-related bills were passed by the House Financial Services Committee:

  • H.R. 3192, the “Homebuyers Assistance Act”: The bill would provide a hold harmless period for the TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule that is scheduled to go into effect on October 3, 2015.  Although the CFPB recently delayed the effective date of the TRID rule until such date, it declined to adopt a formal hold harmless period, despite industry calls for such a period. 
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The CFPB issued a final rule on June 10, 2015 allowing it to supervise nonbank companies that qualify as “larger participants of a market for automobile financing.”  Relatedly, it adopted simultaneously a separate rule defining certain automobile leases as a “financial product or service.”  These rules will be effective 60 days after their publication in the Federal Register.… Continue Reading