CFPB Halts Enforcement of 67 Guidance Documents Pending Review

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said Friday (May 9) that it is withdrawing 67 guidance documents issued by the agency since it opened its doors in 2011.

CFPB Acting Director Russell T. Vought announced the withdrawal of the policy statements, interpretive rules, advisory opinions and other guidance in an unpublished document that was filed to the Federal Register on Friday at 8:45 a.m. and is scheduled to be published in an official form on Monday (May 12).

Vought said in the document that the CFPB is withdrawing these materials because it is committed to issuing guidance only when necessary, it is reducing its enforcement activities due to President Donald Trump’s directives to streamline bureaucracy, and it believes there is no reason to retain these materials.

“Such withdrawal is not necessarily final,” Vought wrote in the document. “The Bureau intends to continue reviewing all guidance documents to determine whether they should ultimately be retained. However, the Bureau has determined that guidance identified in [the document] should not be enforced or otherwise relied upon by the Bureau while this review is ongoing.”

The guidance documents withdrawn by the CFPB, organized by the categories used in the unpublished document, are as follows:

Policy Statements

Policy Statement on No Action Letters, 90 FR 1970 (Jan. 10, 2025)

Policy Statement on Compliance Assistance Sandbox Approvals, 90 FR 1974 (Jan. 10, 2025)

Statement of Policy Regarding Prohibition on Abusive Acts or Practices, 88 FR 21883 (April 12, 2023)

Statement on Enforcement and Supervisory Practices Relating to the Small Business Lending Rule Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B, 88 FR 34833 (May 31, 2023)

Statement on Supervisory and Enforcement Practices Regarding the Remittance Rule in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 10, 2020)

Disclosure of Consumer Complaint Narrative Data, 80 FR 15572 (March 24, 2015)

Disclosure of Consumer Complaint Data, 78 FR 21218 (April 10, 2013)

Disclosure of Certain Credit Card Complaint Data, 77 FR 37558 (June 22, 2012)

Interpretive Rules

Use of Digital User Accounts to Access Buy Now, Pay Later Loans, 89 FR 47068 (May 31, 2024)

Limited Applicability of Consumer Financial Protection Act’s ‘Time or Space’ Exception to Digital Marketers, 87 FR 50556 (Aug. 17, 2022)

The Fair Credit Reporting Act’s Limited Preemption of State Laws, 87 FR 41042 (July 11, 2022)

Authority of States to Enforce the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, 87 FR 31940 (May 26, 2022)

Examinations for Risks to Active-Duty Servicemembers and Their Covered Dependents, 86 FR 32723 (June 23, 2021)

Equal Credit Opportunity (Regulation B); Discrimination on the Bases of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, 86 FR 14363 (March 16, 2021)

Bulletin clarifying mortgage lending rules to assist surviving family members (July 8, 2014)

Advisory Opinions

Truth in Lending (Regulation Z); Consumer Credit Offered to Borrowers in Advance of Expected Receipt of Compensation for Work, 90 FR 3622 (Jan. 15, 2025)

Fair Credit Reporting; File Disclosure, 89 FR 4167 (Jan. 23, 2024)

Debt Collection Practices (Regulation F); Deceptive and Unfair Collection of Medical Debt, 89 FR 80715 (Oct. 4, 2024)

Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening, 89 FR 4171 (Jan. 23, 2024)

Truth in Lending (Regulation Z); Consumer Protections for Home Sales Financed Under Contracts for Deed, 89 FR 68086 (Aug. 23, 2024)

Consumer Information Requests to Large Banks and Credit Unions, 88 FR 71279 (Oct. 16, 2023)

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Regulation F); Time-Barred Debt, 88 FR 26475 (May 1, 2023)

Fair Credit Reporting; Permissible Purposes for Furnishing, Using, and Obtaining Consumer Reports, 87 FR 41243 (July 12, 2022)

Debt Collection Practices (Regulation F); Pay-to-Pay Fees, 87 FR 39733 (July 5, 2022)

Equal Credit Opportunity (Regulation B); Revocations or Unfavorable Changes to the Terms of Existing Credit Arrangements, 87 FR 30097 (May 18, 2022)

Fair Credit Reporting; Name-Only Matching Procedures, 86 FR 62468 (Nov. 10, 2021)

Truth in Lending (Regulation Z); Earned Wage Access Programs, 85 FR 79404 (Dec. 10, 2020)

Truth in Lending (Regulation Z); Private Education Loans, 85 FR 79400 (Dec. 10, 2020)

Other Guidance

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2024-06: Background Dossiers and Algorithmic Scores for Hiring, Promotion, and Other Employment Decisions, 89 FR 88875 (Nov. 12, 2024)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2024-05: Improper Overdraft Opt-in Practices, 89 FR 8007 (Oct. 2, 2024)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2024-04: Whistleblower protections under CFPA Section 1057, 89 FR 65170 (Aug. 9, 2024)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2024-03: Unlawful and unenforceable contract terms and conditions, 89 FR 51955 (June 21, 2024)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2024-02: Deceptive marketing practices about the speed or cost of sending a remittance transfer, 89 FR 27357 (April 17, 2024)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2024-01: Preferencing and steering practices by digital intermediaries for consumer financial products or services, 89 FR 17706 (March 12, 2024)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2023-03: Adverse action notification requirements and the proper use of the CFPB’s sample forms provided in Regulation B, 89 FR 27361 (April 17, 2024)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2023-02: Reopening deposit accounts that consumers previously closed, 88 FR 33545 (May 24, 2023)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2023-01: Unlawful negative option marketing practices, 88 FR 5727 (Jan. 30, 2023)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-07: Reasonable investigation of consumer reporting disputes, 87 FR 71507 (Nov. 23, 2022)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-06: Unanticipated overdraft fee assessment practices, 87 FR 66935 (Nov. 7, 2022)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-05: Debt collection and consumer reporting practices involving invalid nursing home debts, 87 FR 57375 (Sept. 20, 2022)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-04: Insufficient data protection or security for sensitive consumer information, 87 FR 54346 (Sept. 6, 2022)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-03: Adverse action notification requirements in connection with credit decisions based on complex algorithms, 87 FR 35864 (June 14, 2022)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-02: Deceptive representations involving the FDIC’s name or logo or deposit insurance, 87 FR 35866 (June 14, 2022)

Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-01: System of Consumer Financial Protection Circulars to agencies enforcing federal consumer financial law, 87 FR 35868 (June 14, 2022)

Bulletin 2023-01: Unfair Billing and Collection Practices After Bankruptcy Discharges of Certain Student Loan Debts, 88 FR 17366 (March 23, 2023)

Bulletin 2022-06: Unfair Returned Deposited Item Fee Assessment Practices, 87 FR 66940 (Nov. 7, 2022)

Bulletin 2022-05: Unfair and Deceptive Acts or Practices That Impede Consumer Reviews, 87 FR 17143 (March 28, 2022)

Bulletin 2022-04: Mitigating Harm from Repossession of Automobiles, 87 FR 11951 (March 3, 2022)

Bulletin 2022-03: Servicer Responsibilities in Public Service Loan Forgiveness Communications, 87 FR 11286 (March 1, 2022)

Bulletin 2022-01: Medical Debt Collection and Consumer Reporting Requirements in Connection with the No Surprises Act, 87 FR 3025 (Jan. 20, 2022)

Enforcement Compliance Bulletin 2021-03: Consumer Reporting of Rental Information, 86 FR 35595 (July 7, 2021)

Bulletin 2021-02: Supervision and Enforcement Priorities Regarding Housing Insecurity, 86 FR 17897 (Apr. 7, 2021)

Policy Guidance on Supervisory and Enforcement Priorities Regarding Early Compliance with the 2016 Amendments to the 2013 Mortgage Rules Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Regulation X) and the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z), 82 FR 29713 (June 30, 2017)

Bulletin 2016-03: Detecting and Preventing Consumer Harm from Production Incentives, 82 FR 5541 (Jan. 18, 2017)

Bulletin 2015-07 re: in-person collection of consumer debt (Dec. 16, 2015)

Bulletin 2015-02 re: Section 8 housing choice voucher homeownership program (May 11, 2015)

Bulletin 2014-02 re: marketing of credit card promotional APR offers (Sept. 3, 2014)

Bulletin 2014-01 re: FCRA requirement that furnishers conduct investigations (Feb. 27, 2014)

Bulletin 2013-09 re: the FCRA’s requirement to investigate disputes and review “all relevant” information (Sept. 4, 2013)

Bulletin 2013-07 re: prohibition of unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices in the collection of consumer debts (July 10, 2013)

Bulletin 2013-01 re: indirect auto lending and compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (March 21, 2013)

Bulletin 2012-09 re: FCRA’s streamlined process requirement for consumers to obtain free annual reports (Nov. 29, 2012)

Bulletin 2012-08 re: implementation of the remittance rule (Regulation E, Subpart B) (Nov. 27, 2012)

Bulletin 2012-06 re: marketing of credit card add-on products (June 27, 2011)

Bulletin 2012-04 re: lending discrimination

Bulletin 2012-02 re: the payment of compensation to loan originators (April 2, 2012)

Bulletin 11-2 re: the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act

American Bankers Association (ABA) President and CEO Rob Nichols released a statement Friday applauding the CFPB’s withdrawal of this 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 statement. “In the most egregious cases, the guidance announces expectations that exceed the CFPB’s statutory authority.”