CFPB Issues RFI to Assist Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law

The CFPB recently issued a request for information (RFI) to assist the Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law (Taskforce) in identifying areas on which the Taskforce should focus its research and develop recommendations over the coming year to improve federal consumer financial laws, regulations, and guidance, ensuring, for example, that any implemented laws, rules, and policies effectively target the problems they are intended to address.  Comments must be received by June 1, 2020.

The Taskforce is requesting information on how well the market for consumer financial products and services promotes the welfare of consumers, noting that unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices take away from consumers the benefits of transparent and efficient markets.  The Taskforce is interested generally about the market for consumer financial products and services, with specific interest in the markets for: mortgage origination and servicing; debt collection by third parties (collection agencies) and by creditors (in-house collections); debt settlement; consumer reporting; credit repair; electronic payments; credit and prepaid cards; deposit accounts (checking or savings); money transfers; automobile financing (credit or lease); small-dollar loans (installment, payday, vehicle title loans); and student loans and student loan servicing.

The Taskforce explained that because statutory and regulatory change creates costs to both consumers and the industry, it is most interested in learning about markets or services in which such change would provide the greatest net benefit.  As a result, the Taskforce is requesting comments on issues such as:

• expanding access to financial services and credit, focusing on questions like alternatives to traditional banking products, how to address treatment of alternative data that supplements or replaces traditional methods of underwriting, and whether the CFPB should clarify its position on the disparate impact theory under ECOA;
• the protection and use of consumer data, such as the sufficiency of FCRA and GLBA protections of consumer personal information or of FCRA protections regarding accuracy of consumer reports, the desirability of having federal legislation, regulation, or guidance addressing data breaches or even a uniform national standard for data breach obligations, and the impact of financial technology, or FinTech, usage of consumer data;
• regulations the CFPB writes and enforces, including gaps in consumer financial protections, ambiguity or inconsistency in the regulations, and outdated regulations;
• the costs and benefits of federal and state coordination; and
• the overall performance of consumer protection, including the effectiveness of the markets for and disclosures regarding consumer financial products or services, appropriate remedies for violating consumer laws, and the optimal balance of regulation, enforcement, supervision, and consumer financial education to meet the CFPB’s consumer protection objectives.

For additional information on the Taskforce, see WBK’s articles on the announcement of the Taskforce and the announcement of its members.