§5512 Rulemaking authority

Summary

The Bureau can write rules, issue orders, and give guidance to enforce and carry out federal consumer financial laws and to stop people from avoiding those laws. When making rules the Bureau must consider the likely benefits and costs for consumers and businesses, including whether a rule might reduce consumer access, and must think about effects on covered persons (see section 5516) and on rural consumers. The Bureau must consult appropriate prudential regulators and other federal agencies before and during the public comment process. If a prudential regulator sends a written objection, the Bureau must describe that objection and explain its decision in the final rule notice, while following any procedures in section 5513. The Bureau may exempt classes of covered persons, service providers, or products when appropriate, taking into account factors like total assets, transaction volume, and existing laws that protect consumers. Where both the Bureau and another agency are authorized to write rules for the same consumer law, the Bureau has the exclusive rulemaking power for compliance under that law, and courts should give deference to the Bureau’s interpretations as if it were the only agency, subject to the limits in section 5581(b)(5) (including 5581(b)(5)(E)). The Bureau must watch for risks in how consumer financial products and services are offered and used. It may consider factors such as likely consumer harms, consumer understanding of risks, legal protections, growth rates, effects on underserved groups, and who offers the products. The Bureau must publish at least 1 report of important findings each calendar year, starting with the first calendar year that begins at least 1 year after the designated transfer date. To do its monitoring, the Bureau can collect and compile information from many sources and require covered persons and service providers to file reports or answer questions, sometimes under oath. The Bureau must protect confidential, proprietary, and personal information and may not seek consumers’ personally identifiable financial records except if the consumer gives written permission or as allowed by other law in line with the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3401 et seq.). The Bureau must set rules for confidentiality, may share examination reports with regulators on assurances of confidentiality, can set registration rules for many covered persons, and must assess each significant rule or order and publish that assessment not later than 5 years after the rule’s effective date after inviting public comment.