The CFPB published four advanced notices for proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on Aug. 8, 2025. Each notice seeks comment from experts within the automobile financing, international money transfer, consumer reporting and consumer debt collection markets to assist in the agency's consideration whether to propose a rule to amend the manner in which larger participants are defined in each market.
Automobile Financing Market
A CFPB final rule published on June 30, 2015, defines larger market participants within the automobile financing market as a "nonbank covered person [with] at least 10,000 aggregate annual originations," with annual originations including the following transactions within a calendar year: "credit granted for the purchase of an automobile; refinancings of such obligations (and any subsequent refinancings thereof) that are secured by an automobile; automobile leases; and purchases or acquisitions of any of the foregoing obligations." Designation as a larger market participant subjects an entity to supervision by the CFPB, in addition to independent regulations imposed by the industry.
The current threshold designates 63 entities that qualify as nonbank covered persons, including 1) specialty finance companies, 2) "captive" nonbanks (commonly referred to as "captives") and 3) Buy Here Pay Here (BHPH) finance companies" with 10,000 or more aggregate originations each year. While the larger market participants cover approximately 94 percent of annual originations, 18 of the 63 entities conduct approximately 80 percent of all originations – indicating a significant concentration of business within the market.
The CFPB is concerned that the current threshold "may not justify the costs of increased compliance burdens for many entities that are considered larger participants under the current test," particularly based on the disproportionate impact on smaller entities that now qualify as larger participants. Further, the agency is also concerned with how the current threshold is "potentially diverting limited Bureau resources to determine who is a larger participant and whether an entity should be examined in a particular year."
Based on these concerns, the CFPB has proposed raising the threshold to allow the agency "to focus its supervisory oversight on the most active market participants that interact with very large numbers of consumers." If the threshold were raised from 10,000 to 300,000 aggregate annual originations, 17 entities would be defined as larger market participants and cover approximately 79 percent of all originations. If the threshold were raised from 10,000 to 550,000 aggregate annual originations, 11 entities would be subject to supervision, covering approximately 66 percent of all originations. Finally, if the threshold were raised from 10,000 to 1.05 million aggregate annual originations, five entities would be considered larger market participants, covering approximately 42 percent of all originations.
International Money Transfer Market
A CFPB final rule published on Sept. 9, 2014, defines a larger participant in the international money transfer market as a "nonbank covered person [with] at least one million aggregate annual international money transfers," which are defined as "electronic transfers of funds sent by nonbank covered persons from consumers in the United States to persons or entities abroad." In promulgating the current definition of larger participants, the CFPB found "that supervision of larger participants of the international money transfer market would help to ensure that these nonbank entities are complying with the consumer protections afforded by EFTA [the Electronic Fund Transfer Act] as implemented by the Remittance Rule, as well as with other applicable requirements of Federal consumer financial law."
The current threshold encompasses approximately 28 nonbank covered persons and an estimated 98 percent of all international money transfers. Similar to the concerns related to larger participant thresholds in other markets, the CFPB is "concerned that the benefits of supervisory authority over [larger participants] may not exceed the costs of increased compliance burdens for many entities that are considered larger participants under the current test." Further, because the market is heavily concentrated, with "the largest eight non-depository financial institutions by transfer volume conduct[ing] approximately 77 percent of estimated remittance transfers," there may not be a need for this broad scope of supervision authority. The CFPB is also concerned that the broad supervision authority is "potentially diverting limited Bureau resources to determine who among smaller providers may be subject to the Bureau's supervisory authority."
If the threshold is raised to 10 million international money transfers per year, 15 nonbank covered persons would qualify as larger participants, covering 94 percent of all international money transfers. If the CFPB raises the threshold to 30 million international money transfers, approximately eight nonbank covered persons would qualify as larger participants, covering 77 percent of all international money transfers. A third option would be to raise the threshold to 50 million international money transfers, which would define approximately four nonbank covered persons as larger participants and cover an estimated 61 percent of all international money transfers.
Consumer Reporting Market
A July 20, 2012, CFPB final rule designates larger participants within the consumer reporting market as "nonbank covered persons with more than $7 million in annual receipts resulting from relevant consumer reporting activities." The consumer reporting market comprises "agencies selling consumer reports, consumer report resellers, analyzers of consumer reports and other account information (analyzers), and specialty consumer reporting agencies" (collectively, "Consumer Reporting Entities").
The definition of annual receipts was "adapted from the definition of the term used by the Small Business Administration (SBA) for purposes of" defining what entities qualify as small businesses. In 2012, a small business was an entity with $7 million or less in annual revenues, whereas today the corresponding threshold is $41 million in annual revenues. The CFPB estimates that if the current SBA annual threshold were used to define larger participants, six firms would be designated as larger participants.
As discussed above, the CFPB is concerned that the burdens imposed by agency supervision exceed the benefits to the firms designated as larger participants, in addition to the fact that the current threshold potentially diverts limited agency resources. Therefore, the CFPB proposes adopting the SBA threshold of $41 million in annual receipts as the threshold to designate larger participants in the consumer reporting market.
Consumer Debt Collection Market
The Consumer Debt Collection Larger Participant Rule published on Oct. 31, 2012, defines a larger participant of the consumer debt collection market as "nonbank covered persons with more than $10 million in annual receipts resulting from consumer debt collection activities." Market participants are generally "third-party debt collectors, debt buyers, and collection attorneys." The market is a $15.1 billion industry with nearly 2,500 collection agencies within the United States. With 20 percent of all consumers with a credit report having had at least one debt collection in the first quarter of 2023, the market has a significant impact on consumers.
The CFPB selected annual receipts to guide the larger participant threshold under the belief that "annual receipts were a meaningful measure of the level of a consumer debt collector's participation in the consumer debt collection market and the consumer debt collector's corresponding impact on consumers." However, the consumer debt collection market has consolidated significantly since 2012, and the SBA has increased its size standard for collection agencies to $19.5 million.
Based on the same concerns addressed above imposed by the CFPB's broad supervisory authority, the agency seeks comment on raising the larger participant threshold from $10 million in annual receipts to $25 million, $50 million or $100 million. A $25 million threshold would designate 100 to 125 larger participants, covering approximately 55 to 70 percent of total market revenues. A $50 million threshold would result in 60 to 90 larger participants, covering 41 to 58 percent of total market revenues. Finally, a $100 million threshold would result in roughly 11 to 64 larger participants, covering 18 to 51 percent of total market revenues.
As the CFPB continues its efforts to centralize its resources to supervisory actions within the scope of the agency's authority, limiting the number of larger participants would significantly decrease the resources necessary to monitor these entities. The agency already announced plans to reduce "supervisory events" by 50 percent, so these developments are in keeping with that large scale reduction in supervision efforts. Before proposing final rules to amend the current thresholds, the CFPB seeks comments from members of the markets in order to determine the costs and benefits of the current thresholds, the sufficiency of each proposed threshold and further input as necessary. Comments for all four advanced notices of proposed rulemakings must be received on or before Sept. 22, 2025.
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