Agency pauses enforcement as it moves to unwind years of regulatory oversight
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is preparing to rescind 67 policy and regulatory guidance documents, including several related to mortgage lending, credit reporting, and consumer complaint processes.
The move was announced in a filing posted Friday on the Federal Register's website by acting CFPB Director Russell Vought. While the decision is not final, the agency stated it will not enforce any of the listed guidance documents during the ongoing review period.
The rescission is part of a broader policy shift under the Trump administration, which has taken a more limited approach to agency oversight and regulation.
The CFPB, originally created after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from predatory financial practices, did not issue a public comment on the announcement.
The documents slated for rescission span more than a decade and cover wide-ranging topics, including debt collection in nursing homes, financial protections for servicemembers, lending discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, whistleblower protections, and mortgage servicing transfers.
Most of the guidance listed was issued during former CFPB director Rohit Chopra’s tenure, with only three originating under former director Kathy Kraninger.
“Even where guidance documents were not necessarily improper, it is the Bureau's current policy to avoid issuing guidance except where necessary and where compliance burdens would be reduced rather than increased,” Vought stated.
The decision has drawn responses from both supporters and critics. The American Bankers Association (ABA) welcomed the move, arguing that previous CFPB guidance often functioned as de facto rules without going through the required notice-and-comment process.
“Too often in the past, the CFPB has characterized something as guidance that is actually a rule Congress requires to go through the notice-and-comment process,” said Rob Nichols, ABA president and CEO.
He added that using guidance documents in this way “creates unnecessary confusion for regulated entities, deprives the industry of fair notice, and undermines the legitimacy of the regulatory process.”
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) also expressed support for the CFPB’s April 11 memo initiating the review. The group said it had previously submitted a list of policy statements, interpretative rules, and advisory opinions that it believed should be retained in the mortgage space.
According to the MBA, it appears that all the items on that list were retained, but the group is conducting a full analysis to confirm.
Included in the MBA’s list were documents on supervisory practices during disaster emergencies, interpretative rules on loan officer training and screening, and guidance related to mortgage servicing transfers.
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However, critics warned the rollback could have deeper implications for consumer protections. Brady Williams, legal counsel at Better Markets, said the move could lead to the dismantling of critical resources such as the CFPB’s public-facing consumer complaint database.
“This is not just bureaucratic housekeeping,” Williams said. “This is a calculated demolition of the tools consumers and advocates rely on to protect themselves from financial abuse.”
The review also comes on the heels of a Supreme Court decision last year stating that federal courts, not agencies, will have the final authority in interpreting ambiguous regulatory laws. That precedent could further influence how the CFPB handles guidance and enforcement moving forward.
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