Industry Groups To CFPB: Take Back UDAAP Anti-Discrimination Policy

On June 28, the American Bankers Association, Consumer Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers of America, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce affirmed in a letter to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra that the CFPB should rescind its recent updates to the exam manual allowing for the examination of financial institutions unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices or UDAAPs. The group conveyed to Director Chopra that "Congress did not authorize or intend for the CFPB to "fill gaps" between the clearly articulated boundaries of antidiscrimination statutes with its UDAAP authority." (We discussed this exam manual update in a previous blog post here).

On the same day, the group sent to the Bureau its white paper, "Unfairness and Discrimination: Examining the CFPB's Conflation of Distinct Statutory Concepts," which highlights the primary legal flaws in the CFPB's action, which include the following: