The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published its 11th semi-annual report to Congress as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The report highlights the CFPB’s efforts in the last six months to achieve its mission of "making consumer financial markets work better for the American people, and helping consumers improve their financial lives." The report covers the bureau’s supervisory activities since its last report: enforcement actions, rulemaking, consumer complaints, reports, and outreach initiatives.
Enforcement actions. In the last six months, CFPB supervisory actions resulted in more than $6.2 million in redress to over 16,549 consumers. During that timeframe, the bureau also announced orders through enforcement actions for approximately $200 million in total relief for consumers and over $43 million in civil money penalties. Enforcement for violations of the Dodd-Frank Act and other consumer compliance laws include actions against:
- three reverse mortgage companies; and
- all three major credit reporting agencies—Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.
Rulemaking. During the last six months, the CFPB issued final rules on:
- Reg. E—prepaid accounts under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act; and
- Fair Credit Reporting Act disclosures.
Reports. The bureau published several reports and other publications during this reporting period, including reports on:
- prepaid card fee disclosures;
- online debt sales;
- consumer views on debt; and
- two issues of Supervisory Highlights.
Consumer complaints. From July 21, 2011, through March 31, 2017, the CFPB has handled over 1.1 million consumer complaints about, among other things:
- debt collection;
- credit cards;
- mortgages;
- vehicle, payday, pawn, title, and student loans;
- prepaid cards;
- debt settlement services; and
- credit repair services.
Outreach initiatives. According to the report, the CFPB’s progress on achieving its mission "has been made possible thanks to the engagement of hundreds of thousands of Americans who have utilized our consumer education tools, submitted complaints, participated in rulemakings, and told us their stories through our website and at numerous public meetings from coast to coast." The bureau also has an ongoing dialogue with its advisory groups, supervised institutions, community banks and credit unions, and consumer advocates.
For more information about CFPB annual reports to Congress, subscribe to the Banking and Finance Law Daily.
