The Law of Unintended Consequences: How the CFPB's Unprecedented Legislative Authority and Enforcement Approach Has Invited Increasing Challenges

摘要

With the passage of the Dodd-Frank legislation in the aftermath of the Great Recession, Congress created a new federal agency charged with regulating and enforcing 18 different financial services statutes. Its mandate is clear: "Regulate the offering and provision of consumer financial products or services under the Federal consumer financial laws." In practice, that typically boils down to protecting consumers from conduct that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) deems to be unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP). In a unique approach, Congress insulated the bureau from oversight by giving its director a five-year term, limiting the president's ability to remove the director except for cause, and shielding the bureau's funding from the congressional appropriations process. Ironically, this unique structure has provoked a number of challenges to the validity of the bureau based on questions of its constitutionality.