Recently, the heads of the House Financial Services Committee and a group of Democratic senators submitted competing comment letters in response to the CFPB’s August advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on consumer personal financial data rights under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act (previously covered by InfoBytes here).

First, House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-AR) and Vice Chair Bill Huizenga (R-MI) published a letter commending the CFPB for facilitating consumer control over personal financial data. The letter encouraged the Bureau to ensure that any new rules would preserve the ability of consumers to authorize a wide range of third parties — including those with and without fiduciary duties — to access and use their data for financial products and services. The lawmakers recommended that any new privacy and security standards be based on the GLBA framework to avoid duplicative or conflicting requirements.

In contrast, a joint letter by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) urged the CFPB to reinstate the 2024 Personal Financial Data Rights rule, arguing that any significant dilution of its requirements would violate the law. Their letter emphasized that consumer data access is a statutory right and opposed allowing banks and data providers to charge fees for third-party access. The senators expressed concern that the Bureau’s reconsideration of the rule was influenced by industry interests and stressed that consumers must be able to decide how and by whom their data is used.