The CFPB announced on May 9, 2025, that nearly 70 guidance documents will be withdrawn after an agencywide review of documents that violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
As previously reported by Holland & Knight, CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought announced in April 2025 his intentions to review all guidance documents issued by the agency to ensure they do not exceed the authority granted to the CFPB by the APA. Vought intended to identify materials that impose "rights or obligations through guidance."
In a Federal Register notice posted on May 9, 2025, Vought identified the 67 guidance documents that are to be rescinded, spanning more than 14 years and including documents that expanded the CFPB's public consumer complaint database. Also included in the withdrawal are documents allowing for the public reporting of credit card and other complaints, as well as narratives about complaints, on the CFPB's public database. The amount of available information on the CFPB's database will be significantly downsized in light of these withdrawals. In addition, the CFPB's Policy Statement on Abusive Acts and Practices, which was adopted in 2023 after the prior version finalized in 2020 during the first Trump Administration was rescinded, is also being repealed.
Vought wrote in the notice that the guidance documents, interpretive rules and advisory opinions set for withdrawal were inconsistent with statutory text and increased "compliance burdens." Vought and the CFPB leadership were tasked with identifying guidance documents that imposed obligations on those outside the agency without the opportunity for notice and comment, as the APA requires.
Former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra frequently utilized guidance documents to expand the obligations by those governed by CFPB rules, facing significant legal pushback from trade groups throughout the nation. Vought takes a staunch view in opposition to Chopra's use of guidance documents, stating that "[e]ven where the guidance might advance a permissible interpretation of the relevant statute or regulation, or afforded the public an opportunity to weigh in, it is the Bureau's current policy to avoid issuing guidance except where necessary and where compliance burdens would be reduced rather than increased."
Though these guidance documents are presently rescinded, it is not an across-the-board elimination of these documents. Vought stated in the notice that "[w]here guidance is not per se unlawful, the Bureau nonetheless determines that guidance should be withdrawn and that it should be reissued only if the guidance is necessary and only if it reduces compliance burdens." Based on CFPB leadership's continued review, there will likely be future changes and amendments to the list of documents withdrawn.
The notice, set for publication on May 12, 2025, is in line with Vought's intention to defer to the rulemaking process, rather than utilize broad agency power. The withdrawal of these documents also comes as Vought utilizes various strategies to lawfully scale back the CFPB's operations, in accordance with the agenda of the Trump Administration.
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