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Open Recommendations (15 total)

Financial Literacy: Better Outcome Reporting Could Facilitate Oversight of Programs for Older Adults and People with Disabilities

GAO-24-106381
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB, as vice chair of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, should coordinate with the chair and agencies represented on the Commission to encourage the ongoing collection of data on financial literacy program outcomes and include these data in the Commission's annual report to Congress. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Financial Technology: Agencies Can Better Support Workforce Expertise and Measure the Performance of Innovation Offices

GAO-23-106168
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should develop performance measures that are specific to its strategic objectives related to supervisory technologies. (Recommendation 3)
Open
In June 2024, CFPB officials told us the agency is in the process of developing performance measures that are specific to its strategic objectives related to supervisory technologies. CFPB expects to complete this process in 2025. We will continue to monitor agency progress towards implementing this recommendation.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should fully incorporate leading workforce planning practices in the primary offices involved in policymaking and oversight related to financial technology by conducting strategic workforce planning that addresses financial technology; collecting staff skillset data and determining the critical financial technology skills the agency needs; developing targeted strategies to address financial technology-related skills gaps; and measuring the effectiveness of its financial technology-related training in addressing skill needs. (Recommendation 1)
Open
In June 2024, CFPB officials said the agency has initiated the process to hire staff to begin work on fully incorporating workforce planning practices in the primary offices involved in policymaking and oversight related to financial technology. We will continue to monitor agency progress towards implementing this recommendation.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should develop performance goals and measures for CFPB's Office of Competition and Innovation that cover key aspects of the office's activities, such as outreach to industry participants, and that are clear, targeted, and measureable. (Recommendation 2)
Open
In June 2024, CFPB officials told us the agency is in the process of developing performance goals and measures for CFPB's Office of Competition and Innovation. CFPB expects to complete this process in 2025. We will continue to monitor agency progress towards implementing this recommendation.

Blockchain in Finance: Legislative and Regulatory Actions Are Needed to Ensure Comprehensive Oversight of Crypto Assets

GAO-23-105346
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should jointly establish or adapt an existing formal coordination mechanism with CFTC, FDIC, the Federal Reserve, NCUA, OCC, and SEC for collectively identifying risks posed by blockchain-related products and services and formulating a timely regulatory response. To facilitate these objectives, this mechanism could include formal planning documents that establish the frequency of meetings and processes for identifying risks and responding to them within agreed-upon time frames. (Recommendation 1)
Open – Partially Addressed
CFPB neither agreed nor disagreed with the recommendation. In April 2024, several of the financial regulators told us that the Financial Stability Oversight Council (of which CFPB, CFTC, FDIC, the Federal Reserve, NCUA, OCC, and SEC are members) established a formal coordination mechanism through the creation of the Digital Asset Working Group to promote information sharing and enhance interagency coordination in identifying potential risks in the digital asset space. They stated that the working group meets regularly and has discussed a variety of topics, including regulatory developments, rulemaking, risks, data collection, and market developments. In July 2024, the agencies provided documentation demonstrating that the working group meets regularly and has developed and implemented processes for identifying risks and regulatory challenges concerning blockchain-related products and services. To fully implement the recommendation, the agencies should continue to work towards developing processes for responding to those risks and challenges that cross regulatory jurisdictions within agreed-upon timeframes.

Financial Technology: Products Have Benefits and Risks to Underserved Consumers, and Regulatory Clarity Is Needed

GAO-23-105536
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should issue clarification on the application of the Truth in Lending Act's definition of "credit" for earned wage access products not covered by its November 2020 advisory opinion. (Recommendation 1)
Open
In July 2024, CFPB proposed an interpretive rule regarding earned wage access products and the applicability of the Truth in Lending Act. Comments are due on August 30, 2024. We will continue to monitor the rule as CFPB finalizes it.

Consumer Privacy: Better Disclosures Needed on Information Sharing by Banks and Credit Unions

GAO-21-36
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB, in consultation with the other federal financial regulators, should update the model privacy form and, in doing so, consider whether it is feasible to include more comprehensive information about third parties with whom financial institutions share consumer personal information. (Recommendation 1)
Open
CFPB said it is committed to ensuring that financial institutions' disclosures to consumers accomplish their consumer protection and transparency goals and that it will consider GAO's recommendation but has not yet taken any action on it. In May 2021, CFPB noted that any changes to the model privacy form would likely require a joint rulemaking with other agencies including FTC, SEC, and CFTC and such a rulemaking is not currently on its rulemaking agenda. In October 2022, CFPB initiated a rulemaking on personal financial data rights and comments closed in December 2023. While not directly related to the model privacy form, this rulemaking could impact how financial institutions provide information to consumers on data shared with third parties. As of March 2024, CFPB has not taken any actions to change the model privacy form. We will continue to monitor CFPB's rulemaking efforts related to consumer privacy.

Consumer Reporting Agencies: CFPB Should Define Its Supervisory Expectations

GAO-19-459
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB should communicate to CRAs its expectations regarding reasonable investigations of consumer disputes. (Recommendation 2)
Open – Partially Addressed
In November 2022, CFPB Issued a circular on reasonable investigation of consumer reporting disputes. The circular identified certain practices involving the failure to conduct a reasonable investigation of disputes that can violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Specifically, the circular stated that consumer reporting agencies and furnishers cannot avoid the obligation to conduct a reasonable investigation of disputes by making consumers satisfy demands beyond what the statute and regulations permit. It also explained that consumer reporting agencies must provide to the furnisher all relevant information regarding the dispute that it received from the consumer. The circular will help inform CRAs of CFPB's expectations regarding the provision of dispute information, but does not communicate CFPB's broader expectations regarding conducting reasonable investigations of consumer disputes. In August 2024, CFPB officials said they had no updates regarding additional actions in response to this recommendation. We will continue to monitor CFPB's progress towards implementing this recommendation.

Private Student Loans: Clarification from CFPB Could Help Ensure More Consistent Opportunities and Treatment for Borrowers

GAO-19-430
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB should provide written clarification to nonbank private student loan lenders on their authorities under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to offer private student loan rehabilitation programs that include removing information from credit reports. (Recommendation 1)
Open
As of June 2024, CFPB had not taken any action on this recommendation. In June 2023, CFBP told us they did not plan to act on this recommendation because the law does not require nonbank private student loan lenders to seek CFPB's approval of student loan rehabilitation programs. CFPB stated that if a financial institution chooses to offer a private student loan rehabilitation program it would be protected under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Since issuance of our report in May 2019, CFPB was involved in a process led by the Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA) to revise credit reporting guidelines which included new standards for how lenders should report information on rehabilitated private student loans to credit reporting agencies. In June 2023, some nonbank private student loan lenders told us that, with the development of the new credit reporting guidance, they were comfortable they had authority to offer rehabilitation programs. However, clarification from CFPB could still help resolve any remaining uncertainties among nonbank private student loan lenders.

Consumer Data Protection: Actions Needed to Strengthen Oversight of Consumer Reporting Agencies

GAO-19-196
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Director of CFPB should assess whether its process for prioritizing CRA examinations sufficiently incorporates the data security risks CRAs pose to consumers, and take any needed steps identified by the assessment to more sufficiently incorporate these risks. (Recommendation 2)
Open
In July 2020, CFPB staff noted that they were assessing whether, and if so, how and when, to incorporate data security risks into their supervisory prioritization. As part of that evaluation, CFPB is assessing whether those processes should incorporate data security risks CRAs pose to consumers in light of the agency's statutory authorities, supervisory responsibilities, and resources. We have requested additional information from CFPB on their response to this recommendation, but as of September 2023, the agency has not provided us any new information. GAO will continue monitoring CFPB's assessment of prioritization of CRA data security risks.
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