The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is rescinding dozens of guidance documents as part of a directive by President Trump to reduce regulation. The rescinded guidance covers topics such as fair lending, overdraft fees, disclosure policies and consumer information requests to large banks and credit unions.
“The CFPB has issued non-binding policy guidance in myriad forms over its history… In many instances, this guidance has adopted interpretations that are inconsistent with the statutory text and impose compliance burdens on regulated parties outside of the strictures of notice-and-comment rulemaking,” CFPB Acting Director Russ Vought said in the order to rescind the guidance.
Among the rescinded guidance:
- A 2023 policy statement on how the CFPB determines abusive acts or practices.
- A 2022 interpretive rule describing states’ authorities to pursue companies and individuals that violate federal consumer financial protection law.
- A 2024 circular on whether unlawful or unenforceable terms and conditions in contracts for consumer financial products and services violate the prohibition on deceptive acts or practices in the Consumer Financial Protection Act.
- A 2024 advisory opinion to remind debt collectors of their obligation to comply with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in the collection of medical debt.
- A 2023 advisory opinion reminding large banks and credit unions to comply “in a timely manner” to customer requests for information about their accounts.
- Two circulars on the legality of unanticipated overdraft fee assessment practices and “improper” overdraft opt-in practices.
In a statement, American Bankers Association President and CEO Rob Nichols said the association has long expressed concern about the CFPB’s issuance of “guidance” to advance its regulatory policy agenda, so it welcomed the announcement that the bureau is rescinding a substantial amount of that guidance.
“While banks welcome guidance that helps them understand and comply with the law, too often in the past the CFPB has characterized something as guidance that is actually a rule Congress requires to go through the notice-and-comment process,” Nichols said. “In the most egregious cases, the guidance announces expectations that exceed the CFPB’s statutory authority.”
