Recently, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget received the CFPB’s Spring 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, outlining 25 regulatory activities at different stages of the administrative process. The Bureau’s agenda included nine entries at the prerule stage, ten entries at the proposed rule stage, five at the final rule stage, and one set for long-term review and action. The CFPB clarified that the timing of these actions is not binding and may change. In its notice, the CFPB also released a list of completed actions, which included regulatory action taken with respect to the FCRA and the reporting of medical debt, credit card penalty fees, and PACE financing.

Final Rule Stage       

The CFPB’s final rule stage featured significant developments, including plans to streamline mortgage servicing for borrowers experiencing payment difficulties under Regulation X, finalizing interagency standards for financial data transparency, and amending remittance transfer disclosure requirements under the EFTA. The Bureau also indicated its intent to rescind COVID-19-era mortgage servicing protections under RESPA.

In May, the CFPB issued a direct final rule rescinding the CFPB’s procedures by which a state official must notify the CFPB when the official takes an action to enforce the CFPA. The CFPB then withdrew that rescission in July following adverse public comment.

Proposed Rule Stage

In the proposed rule stage, the CFPB plans to reconsider rules affecting nonbank covered persons, adjudication proceedings, and supervisory designation procedures. The Bureau announced its intent to revisit the 2017 Payday Lending Rule, reconsider personal financial data rights under the Dodd-Frank Act (section 1033), and review aspects of the small business lending data collection rule under the ECOA. Additional proposals addressed the issuance of guidance documents, periodic review of regulations, and the legal standard for supervisory designation proceedings. The CFPB also considered clarifying obligations under the ECOA, potentially impacting disparate impact liability interpretations.

In November 2024, the CFPB published a final rule pursuant to the personal financial data rights rule. The final rule became effective on January 17. The CFPB plans to issue a proposed rule to reconsider the November 2024 final rule.

The small business lending data collection rule (section 1071) has already been issued as an interim final rule extending the compliance dates, which is now the subject of a separate legal challenge brought by consumer advocates. The final rule became effective on August 29, 2023; however, this rule has gone through multiple court challenges, nationwide stays, comment letters and even a presidential veto.

Prerule Stage

Prerule activities focused on standards for subjecting nonbanks to supervision, mortgage origination and servicing, UDAAP and the treatment of coerced debt in the consumer reporting ecosystem. The CFPB sought input on whether to amend or rescind discretionary compensation provisions under TILA and discretionary servicing rules under RESPA. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the Bureau also issued advance notices of proposed rulemaking to define larger participants in the automobile financing, consumer debt collection, consumer reporting and international money transfer markets.

Long-Term Actions

The agenda’s singular entry in the long-term section highlighted the CFPB’s intent to continue to evaluate definitions of “ability to repay requirements” and “qualified mortgage” under TILA.