CFPB Dual Mandate and Economic Analysis Act

This bill changes the mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). It adds a goal to strengthen private businesses’ role in financial markets—without government interference or subsidies—to boost competition and give people more choices. It tells the CFPB to carry out and enforce consumer finance laws with this goal in mind.

It also creates an Office of Economic Analysis inside the CFPB. This office must review every proposed CFPB rule, order, or guidance and report how it could affect consumer choice, prices, and access to credit. It must also check each existing rule after 1, 2, 5, and 10 years to see if it solved the problem it was meant to fix, and publish those findings. Before the CFPB issues anything new, the Director has to consider the office’s review—or explain in writing why they disagree. Each new proposal must clearly state the problem it aims to solve and the metrics that will be used to judge success, including changes in access to and cost of financial products and services .

Key points

• Who is affected: The CFPB, people who use financial products (like credit cards and loans), and companies that offer them.
• What changes: The CFPB adds a pro-competition purpose; a new economic analysis office reviews and reports on impacts; the Director must consider those reviews or explain disagreements; new rules must list the problem and how success will be measured, including effects on access and cost .
• When: Reviews of existing rules happen after 1, 2, 5, and 10 years, with reports published for the public.