On August 15, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed a lower court decision that had temporarily blocked mass layoffs at the CFPB. The case arose after the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) challenged Acting Director Russell Vought’s directives suspending the Bureau’s funding draw, halting all supervisory and enforcement activity, and placing employees in limbo (previously discussed here). The NTEU argued that these moves, which paved the way for large-scale layoffs, violated separation of powers principles by undermining Congress’s statutory design for the CFPB.Continue Reading D.C. Circuit Clears Path for CFPB Layoffs

Four advance notices of proposed rulemaking scheduled for publication on August 8 will solicit public comment on whether the CFPB should raise the size thresholds that determine which nonbank entities qualify as “larger participants” subject to routine Bureau supervision. The notices address the automobile-financing, international money-transfer, consumer-reporting, and consumer debt-collection markets. Continue Reading CFPB Seeks Comment on Proposed Rules to Scale Back Larger Participant Thresholds

On July 29, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky granted the CFPB’s request to stay litigation challenging its open banking rule. The rule (previously discussed here) aimed to establish industry-wide standards for data access and sharing between banks, fintechs, and consumers. The Bureau stated that it intends to revise the rule through an accelerated rulemaking process.Continue Reading In a Surprising Switch, CFPB Now Seeks to Rewrite Open Banking Rule

On July 23, a coalition of consumer advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit against the CFPB and Acting Director Russel Vought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging the agency unlawfully delayed implementation of its small-business lending data collection rule. The complaint asserts violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Administrative Procedure Act in connection with the Bureau’s recent policy changes surrounding its Section 1071 rule.Continue Reading Consumer Groups Sue CFPB Over Delay in Section 1071

On July 21, the CFPB withdrew its plan to repeal rules that provide procedures for state officials to notify the Bureau before initiating enforcement actions under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). The CFPB cited “significant adverse comments” as the reason for the withdrawal and indicated it will consider the feedback in a subsequent rulemaking.Continue Reading CFPB Withdraws Rule to Eliminate State Enforcement Notification Requirements

On July 18, the CFPB terminated a 2024 consent order against a credit union after concluding that the entity had satisfied certain monetary and compliance-related requirements. The original order, issued in October 2024, alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act arising from the credit union’s 2022 banking platform conversion, which left members unable to access their online and mobile accounts for extended periods of time.Continue Reading CFPB Terminates Consent Order Against Credit Union Early

On July 11, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the CFPB’s Medical Debt Rule, concluding that the rule exceeded the Bureau’s statutory authority under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The decision blocks a major regulatory effort aimed at limiting the role of medical debt in credit underwriting. The CFPB’s now-vacated rule also would have barred lenders from considering medical debt when evaluating loan applications.Continue Reading Texas Court Vacates CFPB Medical Debt Reporting Rule

On July 11, 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a proposed $9 million settlement resolving its November 2021 lawsuit against a national pawn lender and its subsidiaries. The company and its subsidiaries operated more than 1,000 retail pawnshops across the United States and offer short-term, collateralized loans through a network of wholly owned subsidiaries.Continue Reading CFPB Orders Pawn Lender to Pay $9 Million for Alleged Military Lending Act Violations

On July 4, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” was signed into law, which includes a provision to reduce the cap on the CFPB’s annual funding. The bill lowers the cap from 12% to 6.5% of the Federal Reserve’s total operating expenses for the fiscal year 2009, adjusted each year for inflation.Continue Reading CFPB Funding Cut Nearly 50% by “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”

On July 1, the CFPB terminated two separate consent orders, one involving a federal credit union and the other involving a national mortgage servicer. Both orders stemmed from 2024 enforcement actions and involved alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), with the mortgage servicing matter also receiving violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Truth in Lending Act, and the Homeowners Protection Act. Continue Reading CFPB Terminates Two Consent Orders Addressing Overdraft Fees and Mortgage Servicing Violations