July 2012

In addition to general concerns about the CFPB’s impact on the consumer financial services industry, special concerns have been raised about how new CFPB regulatory requirements will impact small businesses.  Dodd-Frank made the CFPB subject to the requirement  in the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) for a small business panel to be convened before issuing regulations that the CFPB director expects to have a significant impact on a substantial number of small business entities.… 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

Last week, a coalition of 26 consumer groups, civil rights advocates, and community organizations submitted comments to the CFPB urging it to issue regulations banning overdraft fees and short-term, small-dollar loan features on prepaid cards. Among those groups submitting comments were the National Consumer Law Center, the Consumer Federation of America, and the Center for Responsible Lending.… Continue Reading

On July 24, after reading his prepared testimony, CFPB Director Richard Cordray responded to questions at a hearing held by the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform.  The hearing’s title was “Credit Crunch: Is the CFPB Restricting Consumer Access to Credit?” 

Although Director Cordray acknowledged the possibility that overregulation by the CFPB could compound the difficulties faced by consumers and small businesses in obtaining credit, he insisted that the CFPB’s rulemaking process was mindful of that concern. … Continue Reading

Graduating ClassA final model “financial aid shopping sheet,” the result of a collaborative effort by the CFPB and the Department of Education, has recently been issued by the DOE.  The shopping sheet is intended to serve as a uniform financial aid disclosure form. 

Following the CFPB’s release of feedback it received on a draft of the shopping sheet, the task of finalizing the shopping sheet fell to the DOE (which under the Higher Education Opportunity Act, was required to submit recommendations for a model financial aid offer form by August 14, 2009—a year after the law was enacted.) … Continue Reading

On Tuesday July 17, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D.-SD) introduced a new bill, S. 3394, which combines two consumer-related regulatory initiatives that had already been separately introduced and passed by the House of Representatives.  These are (1) eliminating one of the automated teller machine (“ATM”) fee notice provisions (so-called “ATM placard regulation”), passed by the House in H.R.… Continue Reading

Last month, when the CFPB announced its decision to publicly disclose credit card complaint data and its proposal to also publicly disclose data from complaints about other financial products and services, we questioned the value of such data to the public. Soon after, we wrote about an example we saw of how the data can lead to misleading information. … Continue Reading

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened for business on July 21, 2011. That same day, we launched CFPB Monitor. This first anniversary is a perfect time to assess the enormous impact the CFPB has had on the world of consumer financial services—and to examine what lies ahead. Click below to hear from three of our blog contributors: Chris Willis, John Socknat and myself.… Continue Reading

The CFPB issued today its report to Congress on private student loans as mandated by Dodd-Frank, which the CFPB describes as the “Cycle of boom and bust in private student loan market.”  Issued jointly with the Department of Education, the report consists of five parts dealing with (1) lenders, loan markets and products, (2) borrower characteristics and behaviors,
(3) consumer protection, (4) fair lending issues, and (5) recommendations from the CFPB and DOE. … Continue Reading

Overshadowed by the publicity surrounding the announcement of the CFPB’s settlement of its first enforcement action was the CFPB’s concurrent release of a bulletin providing general guidance on marketing credit card add-on products. While focused on credit card add-on products, the bulletin is also intended to serve as guidance for the marketing of similar products offered in connection with other forms of credit or deposit services. … Continue Reading