UPDATED: Consumer bureau seeks input for task force on federal consumer financial law

A task force created by the federal agency charged with consumer financial protection is seeking public input – by June 1 – to identify areas of consumer protection the task force should focus on as it works to prepare a final set of recommendations for “harmonizing, modernizing, and updating the federal consumer financial laws.”

The Taskforce on Federal Consumer Protection was announced last October by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which named members to the panel in January. According to the bureau, the task force is modeled on a commission created by the 1968 Consumer Credit Protection Act. (The 1968 law created the National Commission on Consumer Finance to study and make recommendations on the need for further regulation of the consumer finance industry.)

The task force report is due to CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger in January 2021, according to the group’s charter. On Friday, the bureau announced a request for information (RFI) and said comments are sought specifically on the following:

  • expanding access to consumer financial products and services;
  • protection and use of consumer data; regulations the Bureau writes and enforces;
  • federal and state coordination; and
  • improving the market for consumer financial products and services.

Ninety days after submitting its report to Kraninger, the group’s charter will expire unless Kraninger renews it.

The bureau said the RFI “will be one of multiple opportunities for the public to provide feedback directly to the Taskforce and thus to help inform its recommendations.”

Request For Information To Assist the Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law (Comments due June 1)