Comments made by Director Cordray in an interview with the Washington Post indicate that the CFPB will be taking an aggressive approach to rulemaking in the coming months.
Director Cordray indicated that prepaid cards are “a real front-burner issue for us” and that the CFPB is “moving forward to write rules to make sure they are protected under the [Electronic Fund Transfer Act.]” Consistent with statements he recently made in another interview, Director Cordray indicated that the CFPB will be “undertaking rulemaking in the debt collection area” and indicated that work on those rules “will get started this fall.”
With regard to payday lending, Director Cordray stated that “there will be activity in this area in the near future.” He noted that the CFPB has been “building partnerships” with other regulators to address the reliance of online payday lenders on banks “for financing and collecting the money.”
In what might be described as his most “chilling” comment, Director Cordray indicated that the CFPB is “engaged in analyzing” how the ability-to-repay model might be applied beyond mortgages and credit cards to other consumer credit products.
