The House Financial Services Committee is asking the public to weigh in on a discussion draft of legislation that would fundamentally restructure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with comments due by August 21.
The draft, titled the CFPB Reform Act of 2026, spans five titles and touches nearly every aspect of how the Bureau operates. For the credit and collection industry, several provisions stand out.
Most notably, Section 204 would amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to exclude licensed attorneys and law firms engaged in litigation activities from the definition of “debt collector.” The provision would also strip federal agencies of supervisory, enforcement, and regulatory authority over attorney litigation activities and eliminate private rights of action based on an opposing attorney’s litigation conduct, returning oversight to state and federal courts.
The draft also takes aim at the Bureau’s consumer complaint portal, a frequent source of friction for collection agencies. Consumers would be required to attest under penalty of perjury that their complaints are accurate, submitted directly or through a verified authorized representative, and preceded by direct outreach to the company at least 60 days beforehand. Companies could close complaints deemed duplicative, frivolous, or unauthorized, and complaint narratives would no longer be published publicly.
On enforcement, the bill would eliminate the current first tier of civil money penalties, cap the new first tier at $50,120 per day rather than $1 million, and require the Bureau to credit self-reporting as a mitigating factor. A good-faith compliance effort would bar monetary relief in UDAAP cases, and companies that self-identify potential violations would receive notice and a 180-day window to cure before the Bureau could sue.
The draft would further require the Bureau to define “abusive act or practice” by rule within 180 days, codify a definition of “substantial injury” that excludes emotional or reputational harm, and bar UDAAP claims from being used to sidestep statutes of limitations in other consumer financial laws. State attorneys general would be blocked from pursuing parallel actions when the Bureau has noticed its own case over the same conduct.
Structurally, Title I would bring the Bureau into the congressional appropriations process, establish a dedicated Senate-confirmed Inspector General, and mandate retrospective reviews of major rules every eight years, overseen by the Office of Management and Budget.
The committee posed specific questions alongside each title, signaling this remains a work in progress rather than a bill headed for imminent markup.
Read the draft of the proposed legislation
