The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued a Statement of Policy (Statement) on March 8 making it clear that going forward it will exercise its full authority to penalize covered persons found to have engaged in abusive acts or practices, 12 U.S.C. §5536(a)(1)(B), in violation of its core consumer protection authority. In doing so, the Bureau’s acting director rescinded a January 20, 2020, Policy Statement (2020 Statement) issued by a director appointed by former President Donald Trump, in which the Bureau advised, among other things which we have previously discussed, that it would generally not seek civil penalties for “abusive conduct” unless there had been a lack of a good faith effort to comply with the law.

We previously reported on recent mortgage rulemakings that were finalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) late last year. Of the two final rules from the Bureau, one drastically simplifies the definition of a “qualified mortgage” (QM) (the General QM Final Rule), and the other provides an alternate pathway to QM safe harbor status for certain seasoned mortgage loans (the Seasoned QM Final Rule).

US President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) on February 3 that directs the secretary of the US Department of the Treasury and the heads of the major federal financial regulatory agencies to review “existing laws, treaties, regulations, guidance, reporting and recordkeeping requirements, and other government policies” for their consistency with a series of newly created “Core Principles” for the oversight and regulation of the financial sector, and to report back with their findings within 120 days.

As the incoming administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to roll back federal regulations impacting a wide variety of industries, the battleground will not just be in Washington, DC—it may emerge in the states.