AFSA Letter on CFPB Proposed Updates to Proceedings Rules
On April 8, AFSA submitted a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding proposed updates to its Rules of Practice for Adjudication Proceedings. In our letter, we express concern that the Rules of Practice for Adjudication Proceedings will be implemented without stakeholder input. While the rule is exempt from the notice-and-comment rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, we not that it would be beneficial for the Bureau to take in input before changing adjudication rules as important as these.
AFSA highlights two changes in particular: Rule 204(c) relating to bifurcation is overly broad and would give the CFPB Director expanded flexibility in areas where he is not necessarily an impartial participant. Our letter notes, “[T]he Director is not an impartial Federal judge. The Director sets the policy agenda, decides enforcement priorities, and has used the bully pulpit of the media to further that agenda.” Similarly, Rule 206 should not be used to throttle the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests relating to the underlying subject matter of litigation.
Read the letter for AFSA’s full responses.
April 14th, 2022
