CFPB Tracker
Tracking developments affecting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
May 16, 2025
Oral Arguments on Appeals Court Case
On May 16, the United States District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard oral arguments between the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents CFPB employees, and the CFPB. At issue is the legality of an injunction created by a lower court, preventing the CFPB from completing the layoffs of approximately 1,400 employees. The bureau has argued that its plan to dismiss its employees aligned with previous direction from the appeals court, which had stated that reductions in force could take place after a “particularized assessment” was completed.
May 15, 2025
CFPB Rescinds “Prohibited Terms and Conditions” Rule, Proposes Withdrawal of Nonbank Registry Rule
The CFPB has announced its intention to rescind its “Registry of Nonbank Covered Persons Subject to Certain Agency and Court Orders” rule. The final rule, which was profiled in our July 2024 issue of Industry Insights, would have forced certain “nonbank covered persons”—a legal category which includes auto finance companies—to join an online registry after receiving an order connected to certain consumer protection laws. The rule would impose compliance and records management requirements. The comment period required by federal law ends on June 13.
Separately, the CFPB has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have barred the use of certain terms and conditions in agreements for consumer financial products and services. The terms and conditions, which included limits on free expression and waivers of certain rights, protections, and remedies, were described in the proposed rule, which was announced in mid-January.
May 12, 2025
CFPB Rescinds 67 Guidance Documents
The CFPB withdrew 67 guidance documents on May 12. The list of documents includes interpretive rules, policy statements, advisory opinions, and other guidance. Two pieces of withdrawn guidance—a “Policy Statement on Abusive Acts and Practices” and a circular titled, “Unlawful and Unenforceable Contract Terms and Conditions”—were covered in our May 2023 and July 2024 editions of Industry Insights but none of the withdrawn guidance appears to directly relate to work the CFPB has done in the auto finance space as it relates to F&I products.
May 12, 2025
CFPB Terminates $60 Million Consent Order Against Toyota Motor Credit Corporation
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau terminated a consent order with Toyota Motor Credit Corporation, “[waiving] any alleged noncompliance therewith.” First covered in our December 2023 edition of Industry Insights, the consent order addressed various alleged deceptive, unfair, and abusive acts or practices relating to auto finance and F&I products.
May 12, 2025
Trump Withdraws McKernan’s Nomination for CFPB Director
On May 9, President Trump nominated Jonathan McKernan for the position of Undersecretary of Domestic Finance at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Three days later, the president formally withdrew McKernan’s nomination to be CFPB director. McKernan’s first nomination had been proposed by the president in February (see our March issue of Industry Insights). Russell Vought, who had just assumed the role of acting director at the time of McKernan’s nomination, will continue to serve as acting director until a new nominee is appointed and confirmed by the Senate.
Throughout May 2025
U.S. House of Representatives Attempts to Cut CFPB Spending via Federal Budget Bill
The House Financial Services Committee passed and forwarded its segment of the proposed federal budget in early May. The draft approved by the committee would decrease the limit on funds the CFPB may withdraw from the Federal Reserve from 12% to 5% of the Federal Reserve’s operating budget. The committee’s proposal would also force the CFPB to send unobligated funds—funds that have not been spent or earmarked—exceeding 5 percent of the CFPB’s total budget to the Federal Treasury, and monies from the bureau’s Civil Penalties Fund would only be payable to “direct” victims.
The committee’s language was added to the House Budget Committee’s proposed budget, which passed that committee on May 16 and the full chamber on May 22.
April 30, 2025
Democratic Senators Announce GAO Agreement to Investigate the CFPB
In response to a letter from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim, the Government Accountability Office agreed to “review matters relating to recent actions undertaken at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), including efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).” The letter, which was sent on April 23 and announced during a press conference hosted by Senate Democrats on April 29, does not give a start date. However, the letter states that “staff with the required skills will be available shortly to initiate an engagement.”
March 28, 2025
Judge Rules Against the CFPB and Acting Director Vought
The presiding judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled against the CFPB and Acting Director Vought and granted a preliminary injunction. The ruling enjoins agency and administration officials from deleting data, terminating employees (except for cause), and implementing a Feb 10 stop-work order. The judge also ordered the CFPB to rehire all employees fired after Feb 10, rescind contract cancellations, re-equip agency employees, and maintain certain services.
Both the CFPB and Acting Director Vought were sued by the National Treasury Employees Union, the CFPB Employee Association, and several others. The injunction/order stays in effect until the court releases a ruling on the merits, summarized below:
- Whether the actions of the president and his CFPB appointees constituted “making” rather than “implementing” the law, a power reserved for Congress;
- Whether the February 10 stop-work order is a violation of the APA.
A notice of appeal and request for stay have been filed in response to this preliminary injunction.
March 26, 2025
Congress Continues to Debate the Governance and Funding Structure of the CFPB
The latest dialogue took place before the House Committee on Financial Services. Congressman Barr, Chair of the Financial Institutions Subcommittee, opened the hearing by calling for the CFPB to become a bipartisan commission funded by Congressional appropriations. Chair Barr also called out the bureau for alleged abuse of civil investigative demands (CIDs) and the bureau’s “undefined” abusiveness standard. Several bills sponsored by Chair Barr—the Taking Account of Bureaucrats Spending Act, the Civil Investigative Demand Reform Act, and the Rectifying UDAAP Act—as well as Congressman Huizenga’s Consumer Financial Protection Commission Act—would codify the above-mentioned changes.
March 14, 2025
District Judge Rejects Request for a Temporary Injunction Filed by the City of Baltimore and the Economic Action Maryland Fund
A Maryland district judge rejected a request for a preliminary injunctive relief by the City of Baltimore and the Economic Action Maryland Fund, a nonprofit. The district judge rejected the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary injunction, claiming they had failed to provide “any evidence that such a decision has been reached at all or generated any legal consequences.” Because they lacked a final decision or agency action, the “plaintiffs’ claims are not ripe, and they cannot obtain judicial review under the APA.”
The co-plaintiffs had sued to stop the CFPB from refusing Federal Reserve money and returning its operating and reserve funds.
Both were alleged to be violations of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).
March 6, 2025
McKernan Nominated as CFPB Director
The Senate Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs nominated Jonathan McKernan, former board member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, to the Directorship of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The 13-11 vote took place along party lines. If a simple majority of U.S. Senators approve McKernan’s nomination, he will replace Acting Director Vought and forge a new path for the CFPB.