The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) continues to go through changes that will impact medical providers. Recently the CFPB rescinded dozens of policy statements, interpretive rules and advisory opinions, including Regulation F. In early May, the House Financial Services Committee also passed a budget bill that included a measure to reduce the CFPB’s funding from the Federal Reserve from 12% to 5%. These actions come as the CFPB and industry groups have already asked a federal judge to kill the bureau’s medical debt funding rule after a myriad of legal challenges.
The CFPB Withdrawals
The notice from Acting CFPB Director Russ Vought to rescind dozens of policy statements, interpretive rules and advisory opinions took effect when it was published in the Federal Register on May 12. Vought noted in the publication that the CFPB’s current policy to avoid issuing guidance except “where necessary and where compliance burdens would be reduced rather than increased.”
The withdrawals are not final as the bureau intends to continue reviewing all guidance documents to determine if they should ultimately be retained.
The CFPB Funding Reduction
In early May, the House Financial Services Committee voted to pass its budget bill, which included a measure to cap the CFPB’s funding at 5% instead of the current 12%. The bureau’s funding is drawn from the Federal Reserve at the bureau’s request. The cuts that the committee passed amount to approximately $249 million for the CFPB.
In order to pass the Senate budget reconciliation process, only provisions that change revenue or spending may be included in the budget measure. The budget measure from the Financial Services Committee’s budget measure would also require the CFPB to return any amounts in the bureau’s Civil Penalty Fund that remain after direct payments to victims to the U.S. Treasury.
Changes and challenges continue to affect the CFPB and medical debt, Americollect will continue to monitor them.
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