CFPB Submits First Annual FDCPA Report to Congress

CFPB FTC FDCPA

On March 20, the CFPB submitted to Congress its first annual report on the administration and enforcement of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). The CFPB inherited the annual reporting function as part of the Dodd-Frank Act’s transfer to the CFPB of the primary regulatory responsibility for the FDCPA. Prior to this report, the FTC prepared the annual report, and this year it submitted a letter to the CFPB detailing its efforts under the FDCPA. The report, as informed by the FTC letter, provides (i) a brief background on the FDCPA, (ii) a summary of consumer complaints about the debt collection industry, (iii) a description of the CFPB’s FDCPA supervision authority, including its rulemaking to expand that authority by defining “larger participant” nonbanks, (iv) an outline of recent FTC and CFPB enforcement activity and amicus briefs filed against entities engaged in debt collection, including ongoing non-public investigations of debt collection practices, and (v) each regulator’s FDCPA-related research and policy initiatives.