We have previously blogged about how targets of CFPB enforcement actions have asserted that the actions must be dismissed because the investigations were conducted and the lawsuits were brought and are being prosecuted with funds unlawfully obtained from the Federal Reserve Board at a time when the Federal Reserve System had no combined earnings.… Continue Reading

We have previously blogged about an enforcement action brought on July 12, 2022 by the CFPB against Populus Financial Group, Inc., d/b/a ACE Cash Express, Inc. in Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Judge James E. Kinkeade). CFPB alleges in its lawsuit that Populus engaged in unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices by concealing the option of a free repayment plan to consumers and making unauthorized debit-card withdrawals.… Continue Reading

We recently reported that, upon remand from the Supreme Court (after it ruled that the CFPB’s funding mechanism is Constitutional), the plaintiff-trade groups filed a petition for rehearing en banc in the Fifth Circuit in the CFSA v. CFPB case. In the petition, they requested the Fifth Circuit en banc to rehear other claims in their case attacking the remnants of the CFPB’s payday lending regulation which had earlier been rejected by the same Fifth Circuit panel of judges who held that the CFPB was unconstitutionally funded.… Continue Reading

On July 11, 2024, the CFPB filed its unopposed Motion for the Immediate Issuance of the Mandate, the CFPB stated that they do not intend to seek a rehearing before the same panel or en banc and requested the Fifth Circuit to issue its mandate forthwith to allow the District Court to entertain further proceedings in the case.… Continue Reading

Shortly after the Supreme Court issued its 7-2 opinion in CFSA v. CFPB, holding that the funding mechanism for the CFPB created in the Dodd-Frank Act (a capped amount each year from the “combined earnings of the Federal Reserve System”) is Constitutional, several scholars, one practitioner (me) and legislators began to focus on a different statutory and constitutional infirmity —namely, the fact that since September 2022, the Federal Reserve System had no combined earnings out of which it could lawfully fund the CFPB.… Continue Reading

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last week in CFSA v. CFPB that the CFPB’s funding mechanism does not violate the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution removes what many observers consider to be the last remaining existential threat to the agency.  The ruling will have a broad impact on the CFPB’s activities. … Continue Reading

On May 16, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that the CFPB’s funding mechanism does not violate the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution.  The Supreme Court’s decision has far-ranging implications, most immediately for cases involving challenges to CFPB regulations or other CFPB actions. … Continue Reading

The CFPB (or “Bureau”) filed a cross-motion for summary judgment in the lawsuit regarding the small business lending data collection and reporting rule, also known as the 1071 rule based on the Dodd-Frank section that requires the CFPB to adopt the rule (the “Rule”). Last month, the plaintiffs and intervenors in the lawsuit challenging the Rule filed a consolidated motion for summary judgment.… Continue Reading

The CFPB and the two industry trade groups that filed a lawsuit in a Texas federal district court challenging the CFPB’s final payday/auto title/high-rate installment loan rule (Payday Rule) filed a status report with the court on March 1.  The court directed the parties to file the status report by March 1 when, in November 2018 on its own initiative, it granted a stay of the Payday Rule’s August 19, 2019 compliance date and continued in force its stay of the lawsuit.… Continue Reading

Earlier today, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection released a Public Statement Regarding Payday Rule Reconsideration and Delay of Compliance Date. Echoing rumors that have been circulating in the industry for several weeks (which we had agreed not to address in our blog), the Statement reads in full as follows:

The Bureau expects to issue proposed rules in January 2019 that will reconsider the Bureau’s rule regarding Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans and address the rule’s compliance date.… Continue Reading