Blue Flower

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published a Request for Information (RFI) on the consumer credit card market as part of its required review under the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act. 

Under the CARD Act, the CFPB is required to conduct a review of the consumer credit market every two years to examine how the credit card market is functioning and the impact of credit card protections on consumers and issuers. The first review was published in October 2013 and the second was published in December 2015.

The latest RFI, which was published in the Federal Register on March 10, requests information from the public about how the credit card market is functioning overall as well as on input related to eight specific topics, including an update on debt collection-related changes

“The Bureau wants to be alerted to and understand the information that consumers, credit card issuers, consumer groups, and others believe is most relevant to the Bureau’s review of the credit card market, so this list of subjects should not be viewed as exhaustive,” the notice states. “Commenters are encouraged to address any other aspects of the consumer credit card market that they consider would be of interest or concern to the Bureau.”

Specific to debt collection, the CFPB states that it previously examined the policies and practices of consumer credit card issuers collections and debt sales operations during its last review.  As a result, the CFPB is now seeking comment on:

  • “What, if any, changes have been made in such policies and practices since the last review?”
  • “If they have changed, what drove the applicable changes?”
  • “What associated market metrics have changed as a result, and how did such changes occur?”
  • “How have market metrics changes in other significant ways, and if so, how and why?”

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