Rep. Andy Barr [R-Kent.] yesterday introduced legislation that would remove litigating attorneys from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, narrow the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s enforcement powers and place the agency under congressional appropriations.
H.R. 10184, titled the Consumer Financial Protection Accountability and Reform Act of 2026, was introduced with 29 cosponsors.
Section 204 would amend Section 803(6) of the FDCPA to exclude any licensed attorney or law firm from the definition of debt collector, to the extent that attorney or firm is engaged in litigation activities to collect a debt on behalf of a client. The bill defines litigation activities to include filing pleadings and discovery requests, communicating in or at the direction of a court, and enforcing judgments. A companion provision would add Section 1632 to Title 28, barring federal agencies from exercising supervisory, enforcement or regulatory authority over attorney litigation activities and eliminating any private right of action for harm arising from an opposing attorney’s litigation conduct.
The bill would also rewrite the Bureau’s abusiveness standard. Section 201 directs the CFPB to define “abusive act or practice” by rule within 180 days and prohibits the Bureau from bringing any abusiveness-based enforcement, supervisory or administrative action until that rule takes effect. It creates a rebuttable presumption that timely and conspicuously disclosed injuries are reasonably avoidable, requires a 180-day cure period after a covered person self-identifies a potential violation, and limits venue to the district where a covered person is headquartered or to the District of Columbia. Section 203 defines “substantial injury” to require concrete, quantifiable harm, excluding emotional impact, reputational harm and technical violations of law.
Section 304 would bar earned wage access providers from collecting advances through litigation, arbitration, third-party debt collectors or sales to debt buyers, except where a consumer supplied knowingly false information.
Other provisions would raise the depository supervision threshold to $30 billion from $10 billion, reduce the top civil money penalty tier to $50,120 from $1 million, and create a Senate-confirmed inspector general for the Bureau.
Title V would require consumers to attest under penalty of perjury when filing complaints and to have contacted the company at least 60 days earlier. Complaint narratives would remain confidential and would not be published.
