CFPB remit under fire

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal agency which has taken aim at a number of auto finance lenders in recent years, has become embroiled in a series of legal challenges from Republican senators who want to see its remit reduced.

The CFPB was set up in 2011 following the passing of the Dodd-Frank Act, which the Trump administration is keen to rescind. Amongst its first actions was the decision to fine Ally Financial $80 million after it found minority consumers had been harmed by discriminatory auto loan pricing.

Republican Ted Cruz is seeking to bring a bill which he said would “free consumers and small businesses from the CFPB’s regulatory blockades and financial activism, which stunt economic growth.”

Republicans have called for the agency’s leadership and funding to be restructured. Opponents of the CFPB want to replace director Richard Corday with a bipartisan commission, and say Congress should control the agency’s budget, which is currently funded by the Federal Reserve.