Disclosure – An Unappreciated Tool in the CFPB’s Arsenal

Abstract

Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) establishes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“the Bureau”). Dodd-Frank defines a broad mission for the Bureau. According to the legislation, the Bureau will “implement and, where applicable, enforce federal consumer financial law consistently for the purpose of ensuring that all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services and that markets for consumer financial products and services are fair, transparent, and competitive.” The Bureau has produced considerable anxiety in the consumer finance industry. Most of the anxiety has focused on two issues – who will head the Bureau and what will the Bureau do with the newly created power to ban “abusive” products. This article suggests that the financial services industry should be focused on a third question – what will the Bureau do with its power to regulate the disclosure of consumer financial services.