Since its creation as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been a target of pro-bank, anti-regulation lawmakers who contend that the agency lacks legislative oversight and puts too much authority in the hands of a single director. With the recent political power shift in the Senate and another presidential election on the horizon, some advocates are concerned that the anti-CFPB movement may take hold on Capitol Hill. [More]
consumer financial protection bureau
CFPB Returned $19.4M To 92,000 Consumers In The Last Half Of 2014
By 3.11.15
Each year the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau supervisory examiners hold hundreds of companies accountable for violations of fair lending and debt collection rules. During the last half of 2014, those actions resulted in the return of $19.4 million to more than 92,000 consumers, according to a new report from the agency. [More]
Credit Bureaus Agree To Revamp Practices For Handling Errors, Unpaid Medical Bills
By 3.9.15
Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – the three largest companies to collect and disseminate credit information for millions of Americans – must undergo an overhaul of credit reporting practices as part of an agreement with the New York Attorney General’s Office. [More]
CFPB Wants Better, Faster Database Of Credit Card Agreements
By 2.25.15
Much like a restaurant that has to shutter for a short time while installing new kitchen equipment, federal regulators occasionally have to press pause on an important process to fix things for the long haul. So in order to improve the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s public database of credit card agreements, the agency is planning to give banks a brief break from having to file those documents with the system. [More]
More Than 50M Consumers Have Free Access to Credit Scores, But Some Don’t Know What To Do With Them
By 2.19.15
Last year the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began an initiative urging credit card issues to provide consumers with free credit scores on their monthly bills. Since then, a number of financial institutions have begun providing the information, leading more than 50 million consumers to have free and regular access to their scores. [More]
Colleges May Be Violating CARD Act By Not Providing Copies Of Credit Card Agreements
By 2.19.15
Although the number of agreements between credit card issuers and higher education institutions are on the decline, many of the schools that do have such agreements may be in violation of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act by not making those contracts publicly and readily available to consumers, according to a new investigation by a consumer group finds. [More]
CFPB Orders Mortgage Company To Pay $2M Penalty For Deceptive Advertising & Kickbacks
By 2.10.15
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continued its ongoing crackdown of companies deceptively marketing products to U.S. veterans by ordering NewDay Financial, LLC to pay $2 million and revamp its business practices. [More]
Reverse Mortgage Complaints Show Consumers Confused By Loan Terms
By 2.9.15
While reverse mortgages are only available to a select group of consumers – those 62 years and older – the alternative loan product still makes up a large portion of complaints received by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Today, the Bureau released a report highlighting the most common consumer complaints about reverse mortgages, along with advice for borrowers [More]
CFPB Orders Subprime Credit Card Company To Repay Consumers $2.7 Million After Charging Illegal Fees
By 2.4.15
In the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s second action against unscrupulous credit card companies this week, it has ordered a subprime credit card issuer to refund $2.7 million to customers for illegally charging costly fees. [More]
CFPB Asks Court To Shut Down Texas Company’s Deceptive, Illegal Credit Card Offer
By 2.3.15
Back in December, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against a Texas-based company that allegedly deceived consumers into paying fees to sign up for a sham credit card. The Bureau’s mission to shut down the company continued today when it asked a federal district court to make the company pay a $70,000 fine and permanently ban Union Workers Credit Services from offering any consumer credit products in the future. [More]
Deal Provides $480 Million In Debt Relief To Current & Former Corinthian Colleges Students
By 2.3.15
When student-loan servicing company Educational Credit Management Corporation revealed it would purchase 56 campuses belonging to embattled for-profit college chain Corinthian Colleges, regulators and consumer advocates began working to ensure that students affected by CCI’s collapse would be protected under the deal. Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Department of Education announced some students would receive the help they deserve in the way of $480 million in debt relief. [More]
Report: CFPB To Release Rules Governing Payday Loan Industry Soon
By 2.2.15
Last March, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it was in the “late stages” of crafting rules to rein in the often predatory payday lending industry. Nearly a year, later the agency is reportedly on the cusp of announcing said rules. [More]
CFPB Proposal Aims To Improve Mortgage Access In Rural & Underserved Areas
By 1.30.15
A new proposal issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week aims to make it easier for consumers in rural and underserved areas of the United State to obtain mortgages. [More]
Proposed Scorecard Could Help Protect Students From Dangerous Banking Products
By 1.14.15
For the past several years, federal agencies, lawmakers and consumer advocates have shared their displeasure with the rather cozy relationship between the financial industry and higher education institutions and set out to protect consumers from the often shady deals made between the two groups. Now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is setting out to protect students by creating a scorecard that would help ensure colleges have all the pertinent details when it comes to partnering with financial institutions that offer checking and prepaid accounts to students. [More]
Many Homebuyers Spend More Time Shopping For A TV Than Looking For The Right Mortgage
By 1.13.15
Potential homeowners might spend months nitpicking and fretting over the features of a seemingly endless series of houses they could buy, but a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claims that half of American homebuyers aren’t taking the same care when it comes to shopping around for the right mortgage, often putting themselves in precarious lending situations and missing out on savings. [More]
CFPB Urges DoD To Close Loopholes That Cost Military Personnel Millions Of Dollars
By 12.30.14
Nearly three months ago the Obama administration and the Department of Defense announced a proposed overhaul of the Military Lending Act that would aim to close loopholes regularly exploited by predatory lenders in order to sink their hooks into military borrowers. Now, a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau highlights just how devastating – and costly – those loopholes can be for servicemembers. [More]
CFPB: Retailer Allegedly Using Illegal Debt Collection Practices Against Servicemembers Must Refund $2.5M
By 12.18.14
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues its fight against companies that continuously take advantage of members of the military, despite protections afforded to them under federal laws. Regulators’ latest victory? A settlement demanding over $2.5 million in consumer relief from three companies that allegedly used illegal tactics to pilfer money from servicemembers and their families. [More]
CFPB Suit: Texas Company Charged Consumers Millions In Fees For Credit Card They Couldn’t Use
By 12.17.14
Credit cards, while often a risky financial product, can at times prove to be a proverbial lifesaver when you get into a pinch. For that reason, most consumers who apply for a card envision using it as a valid form of payment for any number of reasons. While a Texas-based company marketed their credit card as general-use, consumers quickly found out that wasn’t actually the case. And so, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed suit against the company for its allegedly deceptive ways. [More]
