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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

As we have previously reported, there are several CFPB enforcement lawsuits pending in which the defendants have filed motions to dismiss based in whole or in part on the argument that subsequent to September 2022, all funding received by the CFPB from the Federal Reserve Board has been unlawfully received. That is a result of the fact that the Federal Reserve System began then to incur substantial losses after September 2022 which continue to this day with no profits being foreseen in the near future.… Continue Reading

We have recently blogged about two other actions in which this issue has been raised (one being a declaratory judgment action filed against the CFPB on July 23, 2024 in the E.D. Tex. and the other being an enforcement action filed in the N.D. Tex. in which a motion to dismiss was filed on July 31, 2024).… 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

Earlier today, I published a blog post highlighting the flaws in the arguments made by Professor Jeff Sovern in his recent article in the Consumer Law & Policy Blog for why the Fed, notwithstanding its losses, can still lawfully fund the CFPB.  Now, I want to turn to the flaws in Professor Adam Levitin’s blog post published on May 30 in Credit Slips that takes the same position as Jeff.… Continue Reading

As the industry continues to digest the Fifth Circuit’s opinion in Community Financial Services Association of America, Ltd. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which held the Bureau’s funding mechanism to be unconstitutional, new litigation illustrates the challenges that the decision creates to the CFPB’s ability to conduct oversight and enforcement.… Continue Reading

A Utah federal district court has rejected the attempt of The Center for Excellence in Higher Education (CEHE) to invalidate a civil investigative demand (CID) issued by the CFPB based on a challenge to the constitutionality of the CFPB’s funding mechanism. 

Pursuant to Dodd-Frank, the CFPB receives its funding through requests made by the CFPB Director to the Federal Reserve, subject to a cap equal to 12% of the Federal Reserve’s budget, rather than through the Congressional appropriations process. … Continue Reading

H.J. Res. 31, the appropriations bill signed into law by President Trump on February 15 that ended the partial government shutdown and provides funding for fiscal year 2019 through September 30, 2019, includes a provision dealing with CFPB funding requests.

Pursuant to Section 1017(a)(1) of the Dodd-Frank Act, subject to the Act’s funding cap, the Fed is required to transfer to the CFPB on a quarterly basis “the amount determined by the [CFPB] Director to be reasonably necessary to carry out the authorities of the Bureau under Federal consumer financial law, taking into account such other sums made available to the Bureau from the preceding year (or quarter of such year.)” … Continue Reading