Two federal courts in recent days have granted stays in a pair of lawsuits against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over the Section 1071 data collection rule and the medical debt reporting rule, with the bureau noting it is reviewing its previous positions on both rules.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in his role as acting director of the CFPB, this week directed bureau staff to pause all rulemakings and enforcement as the Trump administration reviews whether those policies align with its priorities. The bureau noted the pause in its filings in two cases.
In the first case, in which the American Bankers Association and Texas Bankers Association sought to overturn the CFPB rule implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay pending appeal after the bureau said it would not contest the motion. As a result, the CFPB cannot enforce the rule during the plaintiffs’ appeal. The court also extended the compliance deadlines to reflect the stay, but only for members of the co-plaintiff associations and intervenors in the case.
In the second case, brought by groups representing credit unions and data collection firms, a Texas judge ordered a 90-day stay of a CFPB rule that would prohibit the use of medical bills in consumer credit reports. The bureau didn’t contest the request for the stay because Bennett has not yet reviewed the rule.
