On January 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a blog post highlighting the growing efforts by financial institutions to serve consumers with limited English proficiency (LEP). However, according to the Bureau, despite these advancements, significant barriers remain for LEP individuals in accessing fair and competitive financial services.
As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) anticipates a shift in its leadership with the incoming administration of President Trump, the Bureau has released a report titled “Strengthening State-Level Consumer Protections.” This report appears to be a strategic move by the CFPB to influence state-level consumer protection laws before the anticipated shift in federal regulatory policy, and the Bureau’s recommendations appear to be items that would need to be the subject of legislation, if they are to occur. As detailed below, the changes advocated by the CFPB would strengthen the position of both state regulators and private plaintiffs in actions against industry participants.
On January 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) issued a notice of proposed interpretive rule (Proposed Rule). The deadline for comments is March 31, 2025. The Proposed Rule would apply the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA)—which protects consumers against errors and fraud—to new types of digital payment mechanisms, including stablecoins and other digital currencies.
On January 13, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a report providing its analysis of the growth and impact of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) loans in the United States since 2019. BNPL loans, typically zero-interest loans repaid in four or fewer installments, have not been widely reported to nationwide consumer reporting companies, creating a lack of data, according to the CFPB. (Most consumer reporting agencies do not offer a readily available mechanism to report BNPL loans.) The stated purpose of the CFPB’s study was to bridge that gap by using a matched sample of BNPL applications and originations from six major BNPL firms along with corresponding de-identified credit records.
Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) proposed a new rule aimed at banning certain contractual provisions in agreements for consumer financial products or services. The CFPB’s proposal targets certain terms and conditions sometimes found in so-called contracts of adhesion or standard-form contracts, including waivers of legal rights and protections, contract terms that limit free expression, and other terms that the CFPB believes undermine consumers’ rights and protections. The proposed rule also seeks to codify certain prohibitions under the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Credit Practices Rule.
This week, New York became the latest state to introduce legislation aimed at regulating Earned Wage Access (EWA) services. Assembly Bill 258 titled — “An Act to Amend the Banking Law, in Relation to Providing for Income Access Services in the State” — contains several significant provisions that, if passed, will significantly impact EWA providers in New York.
On January 8, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) officially recognized Financial Data Exchange, Inc. (FDX) as the first standard-setting body under the Personal Financial Data Rights promulgated rule under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. This rule, released in October 2024, requires depository and nondepository entities to make available to consumers and authorized third parties certain data relating to consumers’ accounts, establish obligations for third parties accessing a consumer’s data, and provide basic standards for data access.
As discussed here, yesterday the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) finalized a rule aimed at removing an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from the consumer reports of approximately 15 million Americans. This rule amends Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), to eliminate the exception that previously allowed lenders to use certain medical information in making lending decisions. The rule also prohibits consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) from including medical debt information on consumer reports and credit scores sent to lenders. We anticipated that legal challenges would follow, asserting that the rule is arbitrary, capricious, and promulgated in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
This article was republished on insideARM on January 9, 2025.
On January 7, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) finalized its rule aimed at removing an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from the consumer reports of approximately 15 million Americans. Specifically, the Bureau’s rulemaking as finalized removes an existing exception in Regulation V that permitted lenders to obtain and use information on medical debts. The final rule is scheduled to take effect 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register. However, the upcoming change in administration may very well impact its implementation.
On January 3, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release announcing that accessiBe Inc. and accessiBe Ltd. (collectively, accessiBe) agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations of deceptive advertising practices in violation of the FTC Act. Specifically, the FTC’s complaint alleged that accessiBe misrepresented the artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities of its website accessibility tool, accessWidget, to make websites compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The FTC further alleged that accessiBe paid for reviews on third-party websites that were formatted to appear as the opinions of impartial authors and publications and failed to disclose material connections to such online reviewers.