3 Key Takeaways and Collection Agency Industry Insights from the NACARA Conference

Last week, the North American Collection Agency Regulatory Association (NACARA) hosted its annual conference at the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation’s Sacramento office. The event served as a platform for state regulators and collection agency representatives to discuss the latest challenges and emerging trends affecting the industry. More ›

CFPB Publishes Filing Instructions for its New Nonbank Registry for Repeat Offenders

On August 23, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its Filing Instructions Guide ("Guide") for Nonbank Registration pursuant to its Registry of Nonbank Covered Persons Subject to Certain Agency and Court Orders Final Rule ("the Final Rule"). More ›

What Does the CFPB’s New Public Registry to Detect Repeat Offenders Mean for Your Business?

On June 3, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued the Registry of Nonbank Covered Persons Subject to Certain Agency and Court Orders Final Rule (“the Final Rule”).

The Final Rule, effective September 16, 2024, establishes a public registry of nonbank financial companies that have violated consumer protection laws and will require covered entities to report final judgments, settlements, or other enforcement orders to the CFPB. More ›

CFPB Revises the Supervisory Appeals Process for Financial Institutions

On February 16, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its revised rule addressing how financial institutions can appeal their compliance ratings or adverse material findings by the Bureau. The rule is an update to the Bureau's November 2015 revisions. More ›

How Much Is Too Much? Oral Arguments in Much Anticipated CFPB Funding Case Leave Justices Wondering

Early in October, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd (CFPB v. CFSA). The appeal stems from a 2021 Western District of Texas ruling upholding the Payday Lending rule and the CFPB's funding structure, which the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals later partially reversed. The Fifth Circuit held the CFPB's entire funding structure unconstitutional because "Congress's cession of its power of the purse to the Bureau violates the Appropriations Clause and the Constitution's underlying structural separation of powers[,]" and thereby vacated the Pay Day Lending Rule. More ›

A Circuit Split Emerges on the Constitutionality of the CFPB's Funding Structure, Months Before the Issue Comes Before the U.S. Supreme Court

On March 23, 2023, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision in CFPB v. Law Offices of Crystal Moroney (Moroney). The case reviewed constitutional challenges to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) funding structure previously decided by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last October in Community Financial Services Association of America, Ltd. v. CFPB (Community Financial). In Community Financial, the Fifth Circuit vacated the CFPB's 2017 "Payday Lending Rule" on the grounds that it was invalid "as the product of the Bureau's unconstitutional funding scheme." The CFPB's petition for writ of certiorari was granted by the U.S. Supreme Court in February. More ›

House Passes Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act That Would Expand Multiple Consumer Finance Laws

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill, H.R. 2547, on a strict party-line vote. Titled "The Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act, the bill would amend several consumer finance statutes for the first time in decades and impose new requirements and limitations on debt collectors, among others. Its fate now rests in the U.S. Senate. More ›

CFPB Signals Change by Rescinding Abusive Acts or Practices Policy, With Confirmation of Chopra Likely to be Delayed

On March 11, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced rescission of its January 24, 2020 Statement of Policy Regarding Prohibition on Abusive Acts or Practices (Policy). In announcing its rescission, the Bureau indicated the Policy did not provide the intended clarity to regulated entities, and declared it inconsistent with the Dodd-Frank Act, including by limiting the Bureau's full scope of supervisory and enforcement authority. More ›

CFPB Issues Interpretive Rule Prohibiting Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Anti-discrimination efforts are front and center for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This is evident by the interpretive rule it recently issued relating to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B. The rule clarifies that the prohibition against sex discrimination in ECOA and Regulation B encompasses sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. The prohibition includes discrimination motivated by perceived nonconformity with sex-based or gender-based stereotypes, as well as discrimination based on an applicant's associations. More ›

CFPB Highlights COVID-19-Fueled Regulatory Risks for Examined Industries in Special Edition of Supervisory Highlights

In its recent Special Edition of Supervisory Highlights on COVID-19 Prioritized Assessments, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) summarized challenges and risks with respect to several industries it had informally examined since the start of the pandemic. Beginning in May 2020, the Bureau rescheduled about half of its planned examinations and instead conducted "prioritized assessments" in response to the pandemic. These assessments included seeking information on how institutions were responding and communicating with consumers, and also examining how institutions were confronting and adapting compliance in response to the pandemic. More ›