Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

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Open Recommendations (17 total)

Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: Reporting Exemptions Had a Minimal Impact on Data Availability, but Additional Information Would Enhance Oversight

GAO-21-350
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB should provide the federal financial regulators with additional information in its analysis to help them oversee lenders' eligibility for partial exemptions and related HMDA reporting. (Recommendation 1)
Open

 Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned.
As of November 2021, CFPB had taken some steps to implement the recommendation and noted it shared, and will continue to share, two types of information with the other HMDA agencies to help them determine partial exemption compliance. Further, CFPB stated it is continuing to explore options for incorporating Community Reinvestment Act identifier information to support CFPB's and other agencies' analysis of HMDA partial exemption compliance.

Fair Lending: CFPB Needs to Assess the Impact of Recent Changes to Its Fair Lending Activities

GAO-21-393
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB should collect and analyze information on the outcomes of its 2018–2019 fair lending reorganization and use that assessment to address any challenges or unintended consequences resulting from the change. (Recommendation 1)
Open

 Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned.
CFPB agreed with this recommendation and has stated its commitment to assessing the effects of the 2019 reorganization. In December 2021, CFPB said it was assessing the impacts of the reorganization and would address challenges or unintended consequences that resulted from that change. This recommendation remains open pending further progress from CFPB toward completing this assessment.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB should develop and implement performance goals and measures specific to its efforts to supervise and enforce fair lending laws. (Recommendation 2)
Open

 Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned.
CFPB agreed with this recommendation and has stated its commitment to establishing publicly reported performance goals and measures specific to its fair lending enforcement and supervision work. CFPB's Annual Performance Plan for FY22, issued in February 2022, noted that going forward CFPB plans to report on a measure related to the number of fair lending supervision events and a measure related to the percentage of fair lending enforcement cases that were successfully resolved. This report included tables with historical data for these measures for fiscal years 2016-2017 while noting that CFPB plans to resume reporting on these measures after not reporting them from fiscal years 2018-2021. This recommendation remains open until CFPB more fully implements the new fair lending measures in its performance reporting.

Consumer Privacy: Better Disclosures Needed on Information Sharing by Banks and Credit Unions

GAO-21-36
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB, in consultation with the other federal financial regulators, should update the model privacy form and, in doing so, consider whether it is feasible to include more comprehensive information about third parties with whom financial institutions share consumer personal information. (Recommendation 1)
Open

 Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned.
CFPB said it is committed to ensuring that financial institutions' disclosures to consumers accomplish their consumer protection and transparency goals and that it will consider GAO's recommendation but has not yet taken any action on it. In May 2021, CFPB noted that any changes to the model privacy form would likely require a joint rulemaking with other agencies including FTC, SEC, and CFTC and such a rulemaking is not currently on its rulemaking agenda. In October 2022, CFPB initiated a rulemaking on personal financial data rights. While not directly related to the model privacy form, this rulemaking could impact how financial institutions provide information to consumers on data shared with third parties. As of January 2023, CFPB has not taken any actions to change the model privacy form. We will continue to monitor CFPB's rulemaking efforts related to consumer privacy.

Consumer Reporting Agencies: CFPB Should Define Its Supervisory Expectations

GAO-19-459
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB should communicate to CRAs its expectations regarding reasonable procedures for assuring maximum possible accuracy of consumer report information. (Recommendation 1)
Open

 Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned.
In an August 2021 update, CFPB stated that the agency communicates supervisory expectations to CRAs through exams and investigations. Additionally, CFPB reemphasized that it has taken actions to convey expectations to CRAs, including holding a joint workshop with FTC in December 2019 on consumer reporting accuracy and publishing Supervisory Highlights citing FCRA violations and the basis for such violations. As we stated in our report, corrective actions through examinations are limited to the specific entities being examined and clearer communication of supervisory expectations and the ways in which CRAs could comply could further facilitate understanding of CFPB's expectations prior to examinations. We maintain that providing additional information to CRAs about its expectations for key FCRA requirements could help CFPB to promote consistency and transparency in its supervisory approach and that the recommendation should be addressed.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB should communicate to CRAs its expectations regarding reasonable investigations of consumer disputes. (Recommendation 2)
Open

 Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned.
In an August 2021 update, CFPB stated that the agency communicates supervisory expectations to CRAs through exams and investigations. Additionally, CFPB reemphasized that it has taken actions to convey expectations to CRAs, including holding a joint workshop with FTC in December 2019 on consumer reporting accuracy and publishing Supervisory Highlights citing FCRA violations and the basis for such violations. As we stated in our report, corrective actions through examinations are limited to the specific entities being examined and clearer communication of supervisory expectations and the ways in which CRAs could comply could further facilitate understanding of CFPB's expectations prior to examinations. We maintain that providing additional information to CRAs about its expectations for key FCRA requirements could help CFPB to promote consistency and transparency in its supervisory approach and that the recommendation should be addressed.

Private Student Loans: Clarification from CFPB Could Help Ensure More Consistent Opportunities and Treatment for Borrowers

GAO-19-430
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB, after consulting with the prudential regulators and relevant industry groups, should provide written clarification on what information in a consumer's credit report constitutes a private student loan reported "default" that may be removed after successful completion of a private student loan rehabilitation program. (Recommendation 2)
Open

 Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned.
As of July 2021, CFPB stated that action on this recommendation is premature pending ongoing work by an industry association on what information may be removed from a credit report after successful completion of a private student loan rehabilitation program. We will continue to follow up with CFPB on its monitoring of this effort and consultation with relevant regulators.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB should provide written clarification to nonbank private student loan lenders on their authorities under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to offer private student loan rehabilitation programs that include removing information from credit reports. (Recommendation 1)
Open

 Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned.
As of July 2021, CFBP does not plan to act on this recommendation because the law does not require nonbank private student loan lenders to seek CFPB's approval of student loan rehabilitation programs. CFPB stated that if a financial institution chooses to offer a private student loan rehabilitation program it would be protected under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We maintain that clarification from CFPB that nonbank lenders have the authority to offer these programs could--depending on CFPB's interpretation--result in additional lenders offering rehabilitation programs that would allow more borrowers the opportunity to participate, or it could help ensure that only those entities CFPB has interpreted as being eligible to offer programs are doing so.

Consumer Data Protection: Actions Needed to Strengthen Oversight of Consumer Reporting Agencies

GAO-19-196
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB should assess whether its process for prioritizing CRA examinations sufficiently incorporates the data security risks CRAs pose to consumers, and take any needed steps identified by the assessment to more sufficiently incorporate these risks. (Recommendation 2)
Open

 Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned.
In July 2020, CFPB staff noted that they were assessing whether, and if so, how and when, to incorporate data security risks into their supervisory prioritization. As part of that evaluation, CFPB is assessing whether those processes should incorporate data security risks CRAs pose to consumers in light of the agency's statutory authorities, supervisory responsibilities, and resources. GAO will continue monitoring CFPB's assessment of prioritization of CRA data security risks. As of July 2021, CFPB had not made additional progress on implementing this recommendation.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB should identify additional sources of information, such as through registering CRAs or leveraging state information, that would help ensure the agency is tracking all CRAs that meet the larger participant threshold. (Recommendation 1)
Open

 Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned.
In July 2020, CFPB staff noted that they have reviewed state CRA registration information available to them, are working to obtain additional state registration information, and are exploring additional ways to leverage the information. GAO will continue to monitor CFPB's progress in leveraging additional sources of information that would help identify larger participant CRAs. As of July 2021, CFPB had not made additional progress on implementing this recommendation.
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