The CFPB released its semiannual Unified Rulemaking Agenda update on Aug. 15, 2025, outlining its rulemaking initiatives. The CFPB releases regulatory updates twice per year reflecting the agency's plans to propose, finalize or rescind rules and regulations, in conjunction with an initiative led by the Office of Management and Budget.
The update published on Aug. 15 includes 24 action items for the CFPB – double the agency's previous update. Though several items on this list previously were reported, the update as a whole emphasizes the CFPB's goal of prioritizing pressing threats to American consumers.
Final Rule Stage
- Streamlining Mortgage Servicing for Borrowers Experiencing Payment Difficulties (Regulation X)
- Financial Data Transparency Act
- Remittance Transfers Under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (Regulation E)
- Protections for Borrowers Affected by the COVID-19 Emergency Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), Regulation X, Rescission: Previously announced by the agency, the CFPB emphasized that the COVID-19 RESPA Rule served no effective purpose as the end of the COVID-19 pandemic eliminated the need for the procedural safeguards imposed by the rule.
- Rescission of State Official Notification Rules: The CFPB recently withdrew a direct final rule that would have rescinded the procedures by which a state must notify the agency when an action is taken to enforce the Consumer Financial Protection Act. After receiving significant adverse comments, the CFPB elected to leave notification procedures as they were originally written. The CFPB stated that it will address comments received in a future rulemaking.
Proposed Rule Stage
- Registry of Nonbank Covered Persons Subject to Certain Agency and Court Orders; Proposed Rescission: The CFPB announced on April 11, 2025, that it would not prioritize enforcement or supervision actions with regard to entities that do not satisfy future deadlines under this rule, subsequently filing a proposal to rescind it on May 14, 2025. Given that Congress has authorized several other federal and state agencies to enforce federal consumer financial laws, the CFPB concluded that the regulatory burden imposed by the rule is not sufficiently justified by a benefit to consumers.
- Rules of Practice for Adjudication Proceedings; Rescission: Also previously announced, the CFPB published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) on May 13, 2025, after determining that the amendments published in February 2022 and March 2023 improperly transferred authority to decide dispositive motions from the hearing officer presiding over the proceeding. The proposed rule rescinding the amendments is substantively identical to the Rules of Practice in place prior to the 2022 and 2023 amendments.
- Procedures for Supervisory Designation Proceedings: An NOPR published May 14, 2025, would rescind amendments adopted in 2022 and 2024 that provided for public release of final decisions and orders by the CFPB Director and make additional changes to the agency's procedures for designating nonbank covered persons for supervision. Seeking comment on the impact of public release on supervised entities and the supervisory process, the CFPB is looking to evaluate the amendments' impact on whether entities consent to designation, even where such designation may be unwarranted.
- Payday, Vehicle, Title and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans Reconsideration: Though this was already reconsidered in 2020, and the remaining portions of the 2017 Rule were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2024 CFPB v. Community Financial Services Ass'n of America case, the published agenda indicates that the CFPB will reconsider the scope and applicability of the rule.
- Personal Financial Data Rights Reconsideration: The plan to revisit the final Dodd-Frank Act Section 1033 rule was previously disclosed in a tumultuous lawsuit pending before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Though the CFPB initially requested that the court vacate the Open Banking Rule, it recently requested that the court stay proceeding to allow the agency to utilize the rulemaking process to undergo a comprehensive reexamination and make substantial revisions.
- Small Business Lending Data Collection Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act Reconsideration: The CFPB previously revealed its intention to reopen this rule in light of continued opposition from financial institutions throughout the nation. At that time, the CFPB indicated that current agency leadership "has directed staff to initiate a new Section 1071 rulemaking," and that an NOPR would be issued as "expeditiously as reasonably possible."
- Procedures for Guidance Documents: In light of the CFPB's recent withdrawal of 67 guidance documents that failed to comply with the notice-and-comment requirement of the Administrative Procedure Act, it is likely that the agency will seek to implement a set of guidelines to administer and govern the agency's issuance of any guidance moving forward.
- Procedures for Periodic Review of Bureau Regulations: In line with the Procedures for Guidance Documents, it is likely that the CFPB will implement guidelines to ensure regulations published by the agency are reviewed periodically to ensure regulatory compliance, as well as consider whether regulations remain in line with agency goals and objectives.
- Legal Standard Applicable to Supervisory Designation Proceedings
- Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B): This could possibly be the CFPB implementing President Donald Trump's executive order that moves away from the disparate impact theory
Prerule Stage
- Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices (UDAAP): The CFPB is planning a broader UDAAP rulemaking effort that would define unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices. The CFPB is likely to release an advance NOPR in the coming months and a final rule down the road. Until now, the CFPB has declined to provide a formal definition of what constitutes an abusive act or practice.
- Identity Theft and Coerced Debt (Regulation V)
- Loan Originator Compensation Requirements Under the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z); Rescission
- Discretionary Servicing Rules under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Regulation X)
- Discretionary Mortgage Servicing Rules Under the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z)
- Defining Larger Participants of the Automobile Financing Market, Consumer Debt Collection Market, Consumer Reporting Market and International Money Transfer Market: Published on Aug. 8, 2025, the CFPB is currently seeking comment from experts in each of the four industries to consider whether a rule to amend the manner in which larger participants are defined in each market should be proposed. The CFPB expressed in each advance NOPR that the current thresholds may not justify the costs of increased compliance burdens for many entities that are considered to be larger participants. In addition, raising each threshold would allow the CFPB to focus its limited resources on the participants that have the most significant interactions with consumers.
What This Means Moving Forward
In a time where the operational landscape of the CFPB has been a matter of great uncertainty, this update emphasizes the fact that the agency's priorities are focused on matters that are of particular concern for consumers, while also furthering the Trump Administration's goal of curtailing the CFPB and eliminating matters that exceed its statutory authority. While the CFPB's agenda provides an overview of the steps the agency will take in furtherance of its priorities, the details of each regulatory and rulemaking matter will clarify the specific requirements imposed on covered entities and resulting impacts to consumers.
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