Enforcement

The mission of the CFPB is to ensure compliance with federal consumer financial laws through effective enforcement of those laws. When the Office of Enforcement needs to gather information, it may issue a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) to people and institutions that may have materials relevant to an investigation. The law that created the CFPB gives us the authority to gather information this way, and several other federal agencies have similar processes.

We carefully consider what to request in each Civil Investigative Demand. A recipient of a CID may challenge a CID by petitioning the CFPB’s Director. The Director can respond in three ways: he can reaffirm our decision to obtain the information, modify the demand, or set it aside altogether. Director Cordray issued his first ruling on a petition this week. He ordered PHH Corporation, a mortgage lending company, to comply with the Civil Investigative Demand within 21 days.

Although we do not generally comment on confidential law enforcement investigations, we’re committed to telling the public what we can, when we can, about our work to protect consumers. That’s why our rules relating to investigations say that when someone challenges a Civil Investigative Demand and the Director responds, these are generally public records. We will generally post them on our website when we can.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has determined that Capital One marketed certain “add-ons” – fee-based services added to credit card accounts – in a way that violated federal law. As a result of enforcement action by the CFPB, Capital One agreed to automatically refund $140 million to 2 million Capital One customers.

Capital One customers: If you’re eligible for a refund and you have an open account, the refund will be automatically credited to your account. If you’re eligible but no longer have an account with Capital One, a check will be mailed to you. You should expect to receive your refund later this year. You don’t need to take any action to get your refund.

If you have questions about whether you are entitled to a refund, please contact Capital One.

Watch out for scammers claiming that they will get you a refund: When large numbers of consumers get refunds, scammers sometimes pop up. The scammer may charge you a fee or try to steal your personal information. If someone tries to charge you, tries to get you to disclose your personal information, or asks you to cash a check and send a portion to a third party in order to “claim your refund,” it’s a scam. Call us at (855) 411-CFPB.

Today, the CFPB is posting three final rules and one interim final rule that we have sent to the Federal Register for publication. The rules deal with our procedures and practices related to enforcing federal consumer financial law. These rules allow the agency to stay abreast of developments in consumer financial law, investigate possible violations of these laws, and bring actions to enforce these laws, helping us better serve our mission of protecting American consumers.

The three final rules deal with the agency’s investigative and adjudicative processes and our interactions with state law enforcement authorities. We published interim versions of these rules in July of 2011. During an extensive comment period that followed, we received and evaluated public input on the interim rules, and we have made certain changes to improve and clarify the rules.

Rule Relating to Investigations: This rule describes the CFPB’s procedures for investigating whether persons have engaged in conduct that violates federal consumer financial law. Similar to rules used by other regulators, it lays out an efficient and fair process for conducting CFPB investigations. This rule sets forth our authority to conduct investigations, including the procedures for issuing civil investigative demands. It also describes the rights of persons from whom the CFPB seeks to compel information in investigations.

Rule of Practice for Adjudication Proceedings: Under this rule, the CFPB can conduct administrative adjudications (hearings) to ensure or enforce compliance with federal laws and regulations. In developing this rule, we leveraged the experiences of other regulators and reviewed the public comments on the interim rule to create a fair and expeditious process for resolving administrative enforcement actions. The result is an adjudication process that is streamlined and protects parties’ rights to fair and impartial proceedings.

State Official Notification Rule: This rule is designed to help the CFPB stay informed about state-level legal developments relating to the Dodd-Frank Act. It describes the process through which state officials update the agency on certain legal actions they bring to enforce compliance with certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act and regulations the CFPB may issue. Proper notification will help ensure that the law is being enforced in a consistent manner.

The last rule is an interim final rule that implements the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). We are now asking for public input on this interim final rule.

EAJA Implementation Rule: This rule implements the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Act provides that certain prevailing parties in administrative proceedings can recover attorney fees and expenses. The rule sets forth who can seek to recover these costs and how to do so. It is based on model rules and rules used by other agencies. The public can comment on the interim final rule for 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register.

These rules will be published in the Federal Register in the near future and will be effective immediately upon publication. The versions linked in this post contain the text as we submitted them.

Ori Lev is the CFPB’s Deputy Enforcement Director for Litigation.

Today, we proudly announced a joint effort with state Attorneys General and the Department of Defense to combat scams directed at servicemembers, veterans, and their families. Recognizing that this population is often targeted by financial scams, we created the Repeat Offenders Against Military Database (ROAM) to track companies and individuals who repeatedly target the military community. (more…)

Do you have information about a company that you think has violated federal consumer financial laws? Are you a current or former employee of such a company, an industry insider who knows about such a company, or even a competitor being unfairly undercut by such a company? If so, the CFPB wants to hear from you. Tipsters and whistleblowers are encouraged to send information about what they know to whistleblower@cfpb.gov. (more…)

The Dodd-Frank Act requires the CFPB to share consumer complaint information with the FTC and other state and federal agencies. The goal is to make sure agencies coordinate their enforcement of consumer financial protection laws. Recently, we signed an agreement with the FTC that moves us one step closer to achieving that goal. The agreement allows the CFPB to access consumer complaints within the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel system. In addition, we will share complaint information that we receive from consumers with the Sentinel database, subject to appropriate privacy protections and access restrictions. (more…)