Category Archives: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Various Texas authorities reject latest attack on CFPB’s funding

As reported in Politico’s Morning Money enewsletter, two courts in Texas and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, have rejected arguments that the CFPB cannot act because it is funded out of the Federal Reserve’s earnings and the Fed is currently running a deficit. Paxton’s office wrote that the: argument thus rests on the flawed premise […]

Another arbitration provider heard matters in which it had a conflict

Remember how the National Arbitration Forum, also known as NAF, arbitrated disputes involving an affiliated debt collector? Well, the CFPB has banned another arbitration service provider, Ejudicate from consumer arbitrations for a variety of reasons, including that Ejudicate heard matters brought by a party with whom it had a financial relationship, Prehired Recruiting. The CFPB […]

In this election, the future of the CFPB could be on the line

My latest op-ed, in the American Banker (behind paywall but available on Lexis). An excerpt: Polls show that the CFPB is extremely popular, even among Republican voters. So why are Republican politicians so quick to attack it? One answer is that the politicians believe that the free market provides better consumer protection than the government. […]

Auto financing practices under scrutiny in CFPB’s latest supervisory report

In its recently released Supervisory report, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau highlights unfair (and abusive) acts and practices in auto financing. In this sector, the CFPB says its Supervision pays particular attention to auto repossessions, where it found numerous unfair acts and practices. Among them, the bureau found that a servicer or servicers erroneously repossessed […]

CFPB’s Seth Frotman remarks on consumer protection law as poverty law

Here, at the Poverty Law Center. Here’s an excerpt (footnote omitted): * * * I am increasingly worried about where we are headed today. After decades of more and more and more lending, the American people now have a significant debt burden. Yet there is no shortage of venture capital, private equity, and other pools […]

CFPB moves to ban Navient from federal student loan servicing

In a long-running litigation filed in Pennsylvania federal district court, the CFPB today filed a proposed stipulated order, which, if entered, would largely remove Navient from the federal student loan market, and require the company to pay a $20 million penalty and provide $100 million in relief to borrowers. The case includes allegations that Navient […]

CFPB fines TD Bank $28M for wrongful credit reporting practices

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau just announced that it ordered TD Bank to pay $28 million in fines and in consumer redress over the bank’s credit reporting practices. It is the CFPB’s second enforcement action against TD Bank. “For years, the bank repeatedly shared inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies. The […]

CFPB, FTC highlight medical debt, dark patterns in debt collection reports

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission this week issued their annual reporting of their debt collection activities. The CFPB, required under the Consumer Financial Protection Act to report to Congress annually on its activities to administer the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, recounted its ongoing work on medical debt. Notably, in […]

Craig Cowie article on compliance climates

Craig Cowie of Montana has written Creating Compliance Climates, 75 UC Law Journal (2024). Here’s the abstract: Relatively few regulated entities are the targets of enforcement activity or otherwise have direct contact with regulators. Given that absence of direct contact, this Article posits that regulators influence behavior by creating “compliance climates” that project regulators’ priorities into […]

CFP Act and Ratification post-Seila back at the Supreme Court

In March, I blogged about the Third Circuit’s decision in CFPB v. National Collegiate Master Student Loan Trust, a long-running enforcement action brought by the CFPB against investment trusts that were created for the purposes of acquiring and servicing student loans, seeking to enforce civil investigative demands. The trusts have now filed a petition for […]