On February 16, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued revisions to its supervisory appeals process.  The Bureau’s supervisory appeals process has not changed since 2015, and the Bureau’s announcement notes that these new revisions “broaden the Bureau officials eligible to evaluate appealed matters, the options for resolving an appeal, and the matters subject to appeal.”

Revised Appeal Process

The CFPB allows for supervised entities to appeal a compliance rating or any adverse findings made during an examination.  Adverse findings are defined as those findings that result in a “Matter Requiring Attention,” which are specific findings that the Bureau requires responses and/or corrective action to be taken in response to.  

The Bureau does not allow entities to use the supervisory appeals process to dispute:  

• preliminary supervisory findings; 
• an examiner’s decision to initiate supervisory measures, such as a memorandum of understanding; 
• enforcement decisions; 
• adverse findings related to a pending investigation or enforcement action; or 
• referrals to other law enforcement agencies.  

The Bureau requires any supervisory appeal to be submitted within 30 business days of receipt of the email transmitting the findings to be appealed.  This process remains confidential, and the Bureau states that it takes measures to ensure that the filing of an appeal does not have an adverse effect on the entity’s relationship with the Bureau. The Bureau only allows one appeal of a supervisory finding.  

When submitting the appeal, the Bureau requires the following information:

• The subject line of the email should state the name of the supervised entity and include the words “Appeal of Supervisory Matter;”
• A description of the issues in dispute and appropriate supporting information;
• A summary of informal efforts made to resolve the dispute with Bureau staff;
• A copy of a board resolution or other formal document authorizing the filing of the appeal; and
• Whether the company requests an oral presentation.   

The Bureau will then, within five business days, designate a committee of three Bureau managers who were not involved with the matter being appealed and who have relevant experience.  The General Counsel of the bureau will designate legal counsel to advise this committee, and the committee will review the appeal.  The Bureau expects that decisions on supervisory appeals will be issued within 60 business days of assignment to the committee.

The revised supervisory appeals process can be found here.