The CFPB has taken on a new role under the Biden administration, looking to increase enforcement actions across the board. In a recently made public staff memo, acting director Dave Uejio said that the agency’s two policy priorities are “(1) relief for consumers facing hardship due to COVID-19 and the related economic crisis and (2) racial equity.” In furtherance of these policies, the agency has issued a series of alerts and reports documenting a surge in consumer-finance abuses in areas such as lending, debt collection, student loan practices, and the disbursement of relief funds, and has staffed up its enforcement unit to take on what it termed a “tidal wave” of distressed homeowners. 

However, the CFPB’s new policy agenda does not stop there. With the imminent arrival of Rohit Chopra, pending his expected Senate confirmation, the financial services industry should be prepared to see an expansion on both the types of enforcement actions the agency takes on and the digital investigative tools it uses, especially in the areas of mortgage and consumer lending as it looks to take on abuses in credit rating actions and access to banking services and discriminatory lending practices. The agency will also reassert its authority over a broad range of consumer services under the Dodd-Frank Act’s unfair or deceptive or abusive practices (UDAAP) provision after the Trump administration had previously revoked the CFPB’s authority in the area. The consumer financial services industry should tread lightly as this influx of new policies means actions will be monitored closely as the agency is flooded with an increase of complaints throughout the COVID-19 economic crisis.