Consumer Protection

In the past two-and-a-half years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has identified more than $41.2 million in redress to harmed consumers which companies and individuals could not return.

In July the bureau handed down two actions in which less than 1 percent of consumer redress was paid by companies or individuals charged with violations.

The bureau has said it will use its Civil Penalty Fund to provide redress which is identified but not paid in orders, but does it have the means to do so?

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau once again has a full-time second in command, as Director Kathy Kraninger announced that Thomas Pahl had been named deputy director.

Pahl takes over for Brian Johnson, who left the bureau to return to private practice in February. Leonard Chanin had served in the role in an acting capacity, but since has returned to his role at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as the deputy to the chairwoman, Jelena McWilliams.

Read on for more details about Pahl, as well as the creation of a new division at the agency.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed suit in New York against a financial-services company doing business as Loan Doctor, saying the company took money from healthcare professionals who expected to invest in a savings certificate of deposit account, but never did.

The bureau charged the company with four violations of the deceptive prong of the agency’s UDAAP authority in filing the lawsuit.

Read on for details, including what the company founder did after the CFPB investigation had been revealed.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau laid out its rulemaking plans for the next six months, showing it is pushing forward on activity during the pandemic – although it does not expect to have much finalized before the end of the year.

There are two topics in the final rule stage that the bureau listed on its Spring 2020 Agenda, and one of them is finalizing the protection and disclosure of confidential information the agency collects from supervised institutions.

Read on for details of the new, and old, areas which appear in the bureau’s plans.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a proposed settlement with a mortgage lender and related companies which work in the debt-relief industry, providing partial redress for harmed consumers and limited civil-money penalties.

The settlement would require $200,000 in consumer redress and $450,001 in civil money penalties – despite the fact that the CFPB identified $18 million in consumer redress.

Read on for more details of the settlement.

Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray authored a whitepaper with two former colleagues to provide recommendations to the bureau as it navigates the business disruption.

Read on for details of the recommendations, and why the former director believes the bureau needs to “change gears fast.”

The CFPB issued a request for information on recommendations on harmonizing, modernizing, and updating the federal consumer financial laws.

Read on for details of the request.

The CFPB issued an update to its 2013 bulletin which identified several activities that individuals or businesses could engage in that could prevent and minimize harm to consumers, referring to these activities as “responsible conduct.”

Read on for details of the updated bulletin, as well as reaction from the industry.

The settlement will require public release of proposal outlines by September 2020, along with court-mandated status reports every 90 days on rulemaking progress.

Read on for more details of the settlement surrounding small-business lending data collection.

In its analysis, Fitch said borrower protections from aggressive lenders could be harmed by such a change.

Read on for details on why Fitch is cautioning against the replacement of the DTI standard.