federal reserve

Subscribe to federal reserve via RSS

In her December 30, 2025 opinion in National Treasury Employees Union v. Vought (which we blogged about here), Judge Amy Berman Jackson concluded that the CFPB may continue to draw funding from the Federal Reserve System even when the Federal Reserve, on a combined basis, is losing money. According to the court, the statutory phrase “combined earnings of the Federal Reserve System” in 12 U.S.C.… Continue Reading

In Fiscal Year 2026, ending September 30, 2026, the CFPB will need $279.6 million just to maintain its activities that are required by law, Bureau Acting Director Russell Vought wrote in letters to House and Senate appropriators and President Trump.

Under Section 1017 of Dodd Frank, the CFPB may be funded only from the “combined earnings” of the Federal Reserve System (see here, here, and here; see our Podcast here).… Continue Reading

Our podcast show being released today is part 2 of a repurposed interactive webinar that we presented on March 24 featuring two of the leading journalists who cover the CFPB – Jon Hill from Law360 and Evan Weinberger from Bloomberg.

Our show begins with Tom Burke, a Ballard Spahr consumer financial services litigator, describing in general terms the status of the 38 CFPB enforcement lawsuits that were pending when Rohit Chopra was terminated.… Continue Reading

On June 6 of last year, Prof. Hal Scott of Harvard Law School was our podcast guest. On that occasion he delved into the thought-provoking question of whether the Supreme Court’s decision on May 16 in the landmark case of CFSA v. CFPB really hands the CFPB a winning outcome, or does the Court’s validation of the agency’s statutory funding structure simply open up another question – namely, whether the CFPB is legally permitted under Dodd-Frank to receive funds from the Federal Reserve even though the Federal Reserve Banks have lost money on a combined basis since September 2022.… Continue Reading

The Introduction to the Complaint which was filed by the CFPB on May 17, 2024 against Solo Funding, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Central District of California – Western Division Los Angeles (Judge R. Gary Klausner) describes the CFPB’s claims as follows:

INTRODUCTION

  1. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“Bureau”) brings this action under §§ 1031, 1036(a), 1054, and 1055 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), 12 U.S.C.
… 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

On June 13, 2024, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra appeared before the House Financial Services Committee for a hearing, “The Semi-Annual Report of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.” As we expected, the House Financial Services Committee also tackled the earnings issue raised by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA). We previously blogged that CFPB Director Rohit Chopra was dismissive of the argument that the CFPB was unlawfully funded out of losses of the Federal Reserve Banks.… Continue Reading

It took about an hour for someone on the Senate Finance Committee during its hearing today to mention the “elephant in the room” — namely, the fact that the CFPB is only allowed under Dodd-Frank to be funded out of “combined earnings of the Federal Reserve System” and that there has been no combined earnings of the Federal Reserve System beginning in September, 2022.… Continue Reading

Although neither the CFPB, the Federal Reserve Board, nor the Treasury has responded to Professor Emeritus Hal Scott’s op-ed on May 20 in the Wall Street Journal, my interview with Professor Scott on our Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast episode of June 6, Alex Pollock’s blog post on May 21 on The Federalist Society website, or my blog post published on this blog on May 22, a few consumer advocates have responded. … Continue Reading

On May 3, 2024, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) jointly released the “Third-Party Risk Management: A Guide for Community Banks” (the “Guide”), presenting it as a resource for community banks to bolster their third-party risk management programs, policies, and practices.… Continue Reading