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John R. Coleman quoted extensively in American Banker article, “Why the CFPB’s guidance on unfair practices will keep giving banks trouble”

American Banker

The American Banker article, “Why the CFPB’s guidance on unfair practices will keep giving banks trouble,” examined the controversy surrounding bank fees. President Biden and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are seeking to expand federal prohibitions on unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices, while banks claim that the CFPB issued nonbinding guidance on so-called “unfair” bank fees and have challenged the CFPB’s approach in court.

Coleman noted, “Even though the CFPB’s guidance is not legally binding as a formal matter, if a company chooses not to change their behavior, the CFPB can later examine or investigate the company and allege that it was committing unfair practices and knew about it. The monetary risk of a company ignoring the CFPB's guidance is so immense that companies have a strong incentive to follow it and few reasonable options for recourse if their interpretation differs from the bureau’s. A company with principled and reasonable disagreements with the CFPB will have to think carefully about whether to accept the risk of losing in court, even if that risk ought to be pretty low.”

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