In the March 19, 2021 issue of the Federal Register (86 FR 14808), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rescinded the Statement of Policy Regarding Prohibition on Abusive Acts or Practices (Policy Statement) published in the Federal Register at 85 FR 6733 on February 6, 2020. The rescission of the Policy Statement is effective as of March 19, 2021.

The Policy Statement provided that the CFPB intended to apply the following three principles when exercising its supervision and enforcement authority to address abusive acts or practices:

  • First, the CFPB intended to focus on citing conduct as abusive in supervision or challenging conduct as abusive in enforcement if the CFPB concluded that the harms to consumers from the conduct outweighed its benefits to consumers.
  • Second, the CFPB would generally avoid challenging conduct as abusive that relied on all or nearly all of the same facts that the CFPB alleged are unfair or deceptive.
  • Third, the CFPB generally did not intend to seek civil money penalties or disgorgement for abusiveness violations where the covered person was making a good-faith effort to comply with the abusiveness standard.

Full Memorandum