Sponsors (31)
Official title: To make reforms to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, and for other purposes.
Introduced August 31, 2026 by Garland H. Barr · Last progress August 31, 2026
The bill increases procedural oversight, predictability, and some targeted consumer protections (small‑dollar and EWA safeguards), but it also narrows CFPB authority, shifts supervision away from the Bureau, limits certain enforcement tools and state backstops, and risks reducing enforcement resources and timely protections for vulnerable consumers.
Millions of consumers, taxpayers, and businesses gain more oversight, transparency, and procedural checks on CFPB rulemaking and enforcement (Inspector General, public cost‑benefit analyses, OMB review deadlines, interagency coordination, and a civil‑penalty matrix), which should increase accountability and make major rules more predictable.
Financial firms and small lenders get clearer, more predictable procedural protections (a statutory definition/cure period for 'abusive' claims, a 180‑day cure window, statutory safe harbors for certain small‑dollar and EWA products, a civil penalty matrix, and mitigation credit for self‑reporting), reducing enforcement uncertainty and litigation risk for covered entities.
Low‑income borrowers and workers gain safer, regulated access to short‑term liquidity: small‑dollar loans (≤ $3,500) are permitted with limits on rollovers, balloon payments, and prepayment penalties, and earned wage access (EWA) users get no‑cost options, timely disbursement, fee disclosure, and bans on debt‑collection suits and credit reporting for EWA activity.
Consumers nationwide may face weaker enforcement and fewer remediation resources because leftover civil‑penalty funds can be transferred to the Treasury and changes to CFPB funding/transfers risk reducing the Bureau’s enforcement capacity.
Vulnerable consumers (including racial/ethnic minorities, immigrants, and low‑income borrowers) could lose protections because the bill narrows the statutory 'abusive' standard, bars CFPB interpretations that would treat certain acts as discriminatory, pauses abusive‑based enforcement until a new rule is adopted, and limits monetary remedies when firms show 'good‑faith' efforts.
Many customers may see reduced direct CFPB oversight because the 'very large' institution threshold is raised and indexed to GDP and supervision can be shifted to prudential regulators, which could leave gaps in consumer protection or slow responses to consumer harms.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Restricts CFPB funding and enforcement powers, tightens UDAAP definitions/procedures, creates a small‑dollar loan safe harbor, raises supervision thresholds to $30B, and revises civil penalties and market‑monitoring limits.
Revises how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is funded, how it writes and enforces rules, and which institutions it supervises. The bill narrows and clarifies the Bureau’s UDAAP (unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices) authority, requires more detailed rulemaking documents, creates a statutory safe harbor for certain small‑dollar loans, raises the asset threshold for CFPB supervisory jurisdiction from $10 billion to $30 billion with automatic future adjustments, and changes civil‑penalty structure and limits on using market‑monitoring information for enforcement. Overall, the legislation reduces certain enforcement powers and supervisory reach of the CFPB, adds procedural obligations for rulemaking, provides compliance protections for small‑dollar lenders that meet specified requirements, and alters penalty calculation and mitigation rules for covered persons and service providers.