The CFPB has released a supervisory order which establishes that the CFPB has supervisory authority over World Acceptance Corp. (WAC) based on the CFPB’s conclusion that it has reasonable cause to determine that WAC “is engaging in or has engaged in conduct that poses risks to consumers with regard to the offering or provision of one or more consumer financial products or services.” … Continue Reading

The CFPB has revised its internal supervisory appeals process for institutions seeking to appeal a compliance rating or an adverse material finding.  The revisions became effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register on February 22, 2024. 

As an initial matter, the revised appeals process references the “Supervision Director” rather than the “Associate Director” (for supervision, enforcement, and fair lending). … Continue Reading

A bi-partisan group of House members has sent a letter to CFPB Director Chopra to express concern about the CFPB’s rule setting forth its procedures for establishing supervisory authority over nonbanks engaged in conduct that poses risk to consumers.

The Dodd-Frank Act provides that the CFPB can supervise a nonbank covered person that the CFPB “has reasonable cause to determine, by order, after notice to the covered person and a reasonable opportunity for such covered person to respond .… Continue Reading

The CFPB  recently issued a policy statement in which it provided a framework for determining what constitutes abusive conduct under the CFPA.  After reviewing the definition of abusive in the CFPA and the historical background of the adoption of an abusive standard in the CFPA, we examine how the policy statement addresses each element of the abusive standard and share our observations as to the policy statement’s implications. … Continue Reading

In a comment letter sent last week to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra, a key financial industry trade group raised concerns that a recent edition of the CFPB’s Supervisory Highlights did not provide sufficient details about the facts or analysis behind the Bureau’s conclusions regarding certain exam findings. … Continue Reading

The CFPB has released a new issue of Supervisory Highlights that carries the title “Junk Fees Update Special Edition.”  The report discusses the CFPB’s examinations involving fees in the areas of deposits, auto servicing, and remittances  that were generally completed between February 2023 and August 2023.   The report updates the CFPB’s “Junk Fees Special Edition” of Supervisory Highlights issued in March 2023. … Continue Reading

The CFPB has released the Summer 2023 edition of Supervisory Highlights.  The report discusses the Bureau’s examinations in the areas of auto origination and servicing, consumer reporting, debt collection, deposits, mortgage origination and servicing, and payday and small dollar lending, that were completed from July 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. … Continue Reading

I am very tired of the Biden Administration’s, most notably the CFPB’s, inflammatory rhetoric about “junk fees.”  In its recent “Junk Fees Special Edition” of Supervisory Highlights, the CFPB defined “junk fees” as “unnecessary charges that inflate costs while adding little to no value to the consumer” and stated that “[t]hese unavoidable or surprise charges are often hidden or disclosed only at a later stage in the consumer’s purchasing process or sometimes not at all.”… Continue Reading

Continuing its (and the White House’s) “junk fees” rhetoric, the CFPB has released a new issue of Supervisory Highlights that carries the title “Junk Fees Special Edition.”  The report discusses the Bureau’s examinations involving fees in the areas of deposits, auto servicing, mortgage servicing, payday and small-dollar lending, and student loan servicing that were completed between July 1, 2022 and February 1, 2023.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has released the Fall 2022 edition of its Supervisory Highlights.  The report discusses the Bureau’s examinations in the areas of auto servicing, consumer reporting, credit card account management, debt collection, deposits, mortgage origination, mortgage servicing, and payday lending that were completed between January 1, 2022 and June 31, 2022. … Continue Reading