Reports

The financial report provides readers with the summary results of the CFPB’s operational activity, and it is the principal statement of our accountability to the American people, the United States Congress, and the President of the United States.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) conducted matched-pair testing to test for and detect differential treatment of fictitious well-qualified Black and white small business owners seeking credit at large bank lenders in two counties.

CFPB report on student loan borrower survey, with findings on income-driven repayment (IDR), payment pause, return to repayment, debt relief, and loan forgiveness.

New state laws give consumers the right to access, correct, and delete consumer data, but exempt financial institutions and credit reports from these protections.

The findings in this edition of Supervisory Highlights cover select examinations related to auto-finance that were generally completed between November 1, 2023, and August 30, 2024.

The Office of Servicemember Affairs’ annual report on the top financial concerns facing servicemembers, veterans, and military families, based on the complaints they submitted to the CFPB.

Monthly principal and interest payments rose 78% driven by interest rates jumping from historic lows in 2021 to highs in 2023.

The CFPB's annual report to Congress summarizes its activities, and those of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in administering the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in 2023. This report also highlights consumer protection issues in medical and rental debt collection.

The CFPB examines consumer risks related to fees on cash-back transactions at retail point of sale, finding that Kroger Co, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar, charge fees for small amounts while other sampled retailers do not.

Contracts for deed are a form of home financing where the seller retains legal title until the borrower completes payment. Buyers’ exercise of their rights regarding the property is often complicated.

The 2023 Financial Literacy Annual Report describes the CFPB’s financial literacy activities and strategy to improve the financial literacy of consumers.

Overview of the marketplace for financing residential solar panels and the consumer risks posed by solar-specific loans.

K-12 schools are increasingly offering families the option to pay school-related expenses online via third-party payment processors, presenting new costs and challenges for users.

This data spotlight covers developments in the paycheck advance market, covering products also referred to as wage advance programs, small loans, earned wage access, earned wage advances, early wage access, on demand pay, and income-based advances.

This is a special edition of Supervisory Highlights that focuses on significant findings across the entire student loan market.

The findings in this edition of Supervisory Highlights cover violations of law and consumer harm in the areas of auto and student loan servicing and debt collection.

This report provides new insights about distressed borrowers’ experiences with mortgage servicing and loss mitigation processes using data from the 2020 wave of the American Survey of Mortgage Borrowers (ASMB).

The CFPB releases its Fair Lending Annual Report to Congress, describing its fair lending activities in enforcement and supervision; guidance and rulemaking; interagency coordination; and outreach and education for calendar year 2023.

Report providing initial findings on negative equity from the Auto Finance Data Pilot and an explanation of the dataset from the Pilot.

Fall 2023 Semi-annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Removing low-balance medical collections from consumers’ credit reports improved credit scores but has not yet led to more credit applications.

This report provides new insights on how price complexity may affect markets for consumer goods. We report on two laboratory experiments that investigated the effects of price complexity on market outcomes.

This issue spotlight describes the health savings account (HSA) market, including the complex costs and fees that many consumers with HSAs are forced to pay.

Medical collections on consumer credit reports have been an area of focus for CFPB research in recent years. In addition to studying trends in medical debt as a whole, CFPB reports have documented the burden of medical debt on older Americans, and the incidence of medical collections in rural counties in Appalachia and the Deep South region.

This is the 33rd edition of Supervisory Highlights. The findings in this report cover select examinations regarding mortgage servicing, that were completed from April 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023.