Over the past month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took a slew of actions with the apparent aim to decrease the CFPB's regulatory authority.
On May 14, 2025, the CFPB proposed rescinding the "NBR Rule" which requires nonbanks to register certain agency enforcement and court orders with the CFPB related to certain consumer-protection laws. This comes one month after the CFPB announced it would no longer be prioritizing the enforcement of the NBR Rule. In its recission proposal, the CFPB questioned the benefits that the NBR Rule provides to consumers, calling them "speculative and unquantified" while noting that the NBR Rule imposes costs on the regulated entities that may be passed onto consumers. The CFPB stated that even without the NBR Rule, consumers would remain protected from "bad actors" because Congress has authorized other federal and state agencies to enforce federal consumer finance protection laws.
As part of its proposal, the CFPB noted that registration requirements would still apply to depository institutions and insured credit unions with $10 billion dollars or less in assets. It further stated that rescission of the NBR Rule could lead to increased profitability resulting from the CFPB's asserted decreased compliance burden costs and is seeking comments about said potential impact. This is consistent with the current administration's stated priority of shifting agency focus back on depository institutions.
Other recent CFPB recession activity includes the following:
- CFPB Withdraws Over 60 Agency Guidance Documents. On May 12, 2025, the CFPB withdrew over sixty guidance documents including policy statements, interpretive rules, advisory opinions, and other guidance, dating back to its start in 2011, including those related to convenience fees. The action is consistent with the first Trump Administration's 2019 Executive Order 13891 (which was previously rescinded by the Biden administration), which directed agencies to review and limit the use of informal guidance.
- CFPB Files Notice to Rescind 2022/2023 Amendments to the Rules of Practice. On May 13, 2025, the CFPB filed a notice with the Federal Register calling for the recission of rules adopted in 2022 and 2023 that gave the CFPB director increased control over in-house enforcement proceedings, including by allowing the director to make initial decisions on dispositive motions.
- CFPB Withdraws Three Rules Proposed During Final Days
of Biden Administration. On May 15, 2025, the CFPB
withdrew three different rules that had been proposed in the final
days of the Biden Administration.
- The CFPB withdrew proposed Regulation V (Protecting Americans from Harmful Data Broker Practices) which would have governed the implementation of certain components of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"). Regulation V would have classified data brokers as consumer reporting agencies for purposes of the FCRA. The CFPB stated that such classification was "not aligned with the Bureau's current interpretation of FCRA, which it is in the process of revising."
- The CFPB also withdrew proposed Regulation AA (Prohibited Terms and Conditions in Agreements for Consumer Financial Products or Services) which would have prohibited certain contractual provisions in agreements for consumer financial products and services.
- The CFPB likewise withdrew a proposed interpretative rule referred to as Electronic Fund Transfers Through Accounts Established Primarily for Personal, Family, or Household Purposes Using Emergent Payment Mechanisms which would have clarified the application of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and Regulation E to cryptocurrencies.
Companies offering financial services to consumers should continue to monitor CFPB activity closely under the new administration as the regulatory landscape continues to change and longstanding guidance is reworked or withdrawn entirely.
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