In June 2020, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and Professor Kathleen Engel (collectively, the “Plaintiffs”) filed a lawsuit in the Massachusetts federal district court challenging the legality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law (the “Taskforce”).  The crux of the Complaint alleges that the Bureau’s Taskforce failed to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), a federal law that governs the creation, operation, and management of advisory committees to federal agencies. … Continue Reading

The CFPB on September 12 announced the appointment of 25 people to its Consumer Advisory Board, 14 people to its Community Bank Advisory Council, 15 people to its Credit Union Advisory Council and, most significantly, six professors to its Academic Research Council.

While there is nothing very noteworthy in and of itself about the CFPB’s appointments to the Consumer Advisory Board and the Community Bank and Credit Union Advisory Councils (all of which the CFPB was required to do under Dodd-Frank), the announcement pertaining to the Academic Research Council has raised some eyebrows. … Continue Reading