Category Archives: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

CFPB Bans Excessive Credit Card Late Fees

Today, the CFPB released a final rule to ban excessive credit card late fees, closing what it refers to as a loophole in a 2010 Rule. The agency predicts typical fees will be reduced from $32 to $8.   Update: The Chamber of Commerce has already committed to filing a challenge to the Rule.

Report finds large banks charge higher credit-card interest rates than small banks

A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report on the first set of results from its newly updated Terms of Credit Card Plans survey reveals that large banks are offering worse credit card terms and interest rates than small banks and credit unions, regardless of credit risk. In fact, the 25 largest credit card issuers charged customers […]

Consumer Reports study finds surge in complaints about credit report errors

Here.  Excerpt: [F]or the past three years, having incorrect information on a report has been the No. 1 complaint made to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to CFPB data compiled by Consumer Reports. What’s more, the number of complaints about credit report errors more than doubled in recent years, from 165,129 in 2021 to […]

My draft article arguing that discrimination is unfair within the meaning the CFPB’s and FTC’s UDAP statutes . . .

. . .  titled Is Discrimination Unfair? is now available. I would love to hear any comments anyone has. Here’s the abstract: Though multiple federal laws explicitly bar discrimination in consumer transactions, many consumer transactions fall in the gaps between those laws. But recently, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have attempted […]

CFPB’s 2023 enforcement actions in a nutshell

In a recent blog post, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offered a quick overview of its 2023 enforcement work. The agency reported that it filed 29 enforcement actions against financial institutions and resolved six prior lawsuits. Lenders, banks, and other entities that broke the law were ordered to pay approximately $3.07 billion to  consumers and […]

CFPB proposes rules on fees for instantaneously declined transactions and on overdraft fees

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday proposed a rule to block banks and other financial institutions from charging non-sufficient funds fees on transactions declined at the time the consumer swipes, taps, or clicks — that is, transactions that the financial institution declines in real time. These types of transactions include declined debit card purchases and […]

CFPB reports on borrowers’ experiences after resumption of student-loan payments

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published a report on student-loan servicing practices since the resumption of federal student loan repayments in the fall, after a three-year payment pause in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CFPB report finds that borrowers are “encountering long hold times when trying to reach their student loan servicer, experiencing […]

Baltimore Sun Guest Essay: You’re giving away your rights in those online contracts you don’t read

Here, with Myriam Gilles of Cardozo, Prentiss Cox of Minnesota, and David Vladeck of Georgetown. Excerpt: Perhaps the most consequential documents ever produced in this country are the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution identifies our most important rights, while the Declaration explains why the deprivation of those rights justified the fight for independence. […]

Buy Now Pay Later and Regulation

Buy Now Pay Later, or BNPL, probably would never exist in its current form but for regulation. The Truth in Regulation Act does not apply to loans which are to be repaid in no more than four installments, and BNPL usually provides for repayment in exactly four installments. In other words, BNPL was created to […]