The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) gained the exclusive rulemaking right and authority over numerous federal consumer protection laws as of July 21, 2011. The consumer regulations transferring to the CFPB include the Alternative Mortgage Transactions Parity Act, the Consumer Leasing Act (Regulation M), the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (Regulation E), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B), the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, subject to certain exclusions, the Home Owners Protection Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, certain privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (Regulation C), the Truth in Lending Act and Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (Regulation Z), the Truth in Savings Act (Regulation DD), the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (HUD-Regulation X), and the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008.
The CFPB’s rulemaking authority extends to a broad range of providers of financial products and services. However, the CFPB’s authority for examination, supervision, and enforcement will be shared with the federal financial regulators. The CFPB will have primary supervisory and enforcement authority over certain non-depository institutions (principally those in the mortgage business and large providers of consumer financial services) and depository institutions with more than $10 billion in assets and their affiliates. The federal financial institution regulators will maintain supervisory and examination authority over institutions of $10 billion or less in assets.
The CFPB’s new powers over consumer financial activities include the authority to prohibit practices that it finds to be unfair, misleading, or abusive, and to require certain disclosures. Additionally, the CFPB will have the authority to prohibit or restrict arbitration agreements.