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Departing from its past practice, the CFPB has announced that it will hold a field hearing in Wilmington, Delaware on November 13 but has not yet disclosed what the hearing will be about.  Instead, the announcement says only that “[m]ore information about the event will follow.”  It also contains the standard statement that the event will feature remarks from Director Cordray, as well as testimony from consumer groups, industry representatives, and members of the public.… Continue Reading

Although we thought an announcement that the CFPB had begun taking complaints about new products would be made at its field hearing on consumer complaints last week, that announcement was made today.  The CFPB announced that it is now taking complaints from consumers about prepaid cards, such as gift cards, benefit cards, and general purpose reloadable cards. … Continue Reading

Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs heard testimony from Director Cordray at its hearing titled “The Consumer Financial Bureau’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress.” Noteworthy aspects of Director Cordray’s testimony included the following:

  • As they did at the Committee’s hearing on the CFPB’s Fourth Semi-Annual Report, Committee members  questioned Director Cordray about the CFPB’s data collection practices, especially in light of the FHFA’s recent announcement that the categories of information to be collected for the National Mortgage Database would be vastly expanded.
… Continue Reading

In the latest semi-annual update of its rulemaking agenda, the CFPB officially confirmed that it plans to propose a rule to define “larger participants of a market for auto lending.”  The official confirmation follows statements made by Steven Antonakes at a Consumer Bankers Association meeting in April 2014 that the CFPB’s next larger participant rule would relate to auto finance. … Continue Reading

On April 22nd, Senator Warren, nine other Senators, and 14 members of Congress sent a letter (the “Letter”) to Secretary of Education Duncan urging that the Department of Education (DOE) exercise its rulemaking authority to regulate, limit or outright ban certain practices when colleges enter into agreements with financial providers to offer debit cards, prepaid card and other products which are used for purposes of distributing federal student financial aid to students. … Continue Reading

Director Cordray’s speech yesterday to the National Association of State Treasurers consisted primarily of his standard remarks about the CFPB’s handling of consumer complaints, financial education initiatives, and mortgage reforms.  However, he did make some noteworthy comments on prepaid cards offered by states and local governments for wages and other government payments. … Continue Reading

Findings on campus banking products released this past Monday by the CFPB in conjunction with a Banking on Campus Forum held in Washington, D.C. appear to be a harbinger of new limitations on the marketing of these products.  The findings were based on comments the CFPB received in response to a January 2013 notice seeking input on a variety of issues with regard to these products, including the information shared between schools and financial institution providers, the way these products are marketed, the fee structures for these products, how marketing arrangements are established, and student experiences with these products. … Continue Reading

Richard Cordray testified yesterday before the Senate Banking Committee about the CFPB’s Semi-Annual Report covering activities for the first half of this year.  We previously blogged about the Report.

Cordray’s written testimony states:  “As of September 3, we have received 72,297 consumer complaints about credit cards, mortgages, and other financial products and services, and the pace of complaints has been increasing over the past year.”… Continue Reading

Stephen Shinn, a staff lawyer at the CFPB, spoke Saturday morning at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago about the status of the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding general purpose reloadable prepaid cards.

He reported that the Bureau received 230 comment letters. He indicated that if the Bureau decides to issue a  proposed rule, that won’t occur until after the Bureau finalizes all of the regulations it is required to issue under Dodd-Frank.… Continue Reading

The staff of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection has weighed in on the CFPB’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking information on extending Regulation E requirements to general purpose reloadable prepaid cards or GPR cards. While the staff’s letter notes that the FTC voted to authorize the staff to submit a comment letter, it contains the disclaimer that the comments represent the staff’s views and such views “are not necessarily the views” of the FTC or any individual Commissioner.… Continue Reading