CFPB Withdraws Several Guidance Documents for FCRA and Consumer Reporting Agencies

CFPB Publishes Notice in Federal Register About Withdrawing Guidance Documents

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – an agency that enforces the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulating Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) – has withdrawn many guidance documents including “interpretive rules, policy statements, and advisory opinions,” according to a Notice in the Federal Register published by the CFPB on May 12, 2025.

The Notice – “Interpretive Rules, Policy Statements, and Advisory Opinions; Withdrawal” – lists a total of 67 items of guidance being withdrawn by the CFPB with all of the withdrawals being applicable as of May 12, 2025. With regard to the FCRA and Consumer Reporting Agencies, the notification reveals that the CFPB is withdrawing guidance materials that include:

Interpretive Rules

• The Fair Credit Reporting Act’s Limited Preemption of State Laws, 87 FR 41042 (July 11, 2022).

Advisory Opinions

• Fair Credit Reporting; File Disclosure, 89 FR 4167 (January 23, 2024).
• Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening, 89 FR 4171 (January 23, 2024).
• Fair Credit Reporting; Permissible Purposes for Furnishing, Using, and Obtaining Consumer Reports, 87 FR 41243 (July 12, 2022).
• Fair Credit Reporting; Name-Only Matching Procedures, 86 FR 62468 (November 10, 2021).

Other Guidance

• Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2024-06: Background Dossiers and Algorithmic Scores for Hiring, Promotion, and Other Employment Decisions, 89 FR 88875 (November 12, 2024).
• Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-07: Reasonable investigation of consumer reporting disputes, 87 FR 71507 (November 23, 2022).
• Bulletin 2022-01: Medical Debt Collection and Consumer Reporting Requirements in Connection with the No Surprises Act, 87 FR 3025 (January 20, 2022).
• Enforcement Compliance Bulletin 2021-03: Consumer Reporting of Rental Information, 86 FR 35595 (July 7, 2021).
• Bulletin 2014-01 re: FCRA requirement that furnishers conduct investigations (February 27, 2014).
• Bulletin 2013-09 re: the FCRA’s requirement to investigate disputes and review “all relevant” information (September 4, 2013).
• Bulletin 2012-09 re: FCRA’s streamlined process requirement for consumers to obtain free annual reports (November 29, 2012).

“The CFPB has issued non-binding policy guidance in myriad forms over its history,” stated the Notice from the CFPB, which was formed in 2011. “In many instances, this guidance has adopted interpretations that are inconsistent with the statutory text and impose compliance burdens on regulated parties outside of the strictures of notice-and-comment rulemaking.” 

The Notice from the CFPB went on to explain: “But even where the guidance might advance a permissible interpretation of the relevant statute or regulation, or afforded the public an opportunity to weigh in, it is the Bureau’s current policy to avoid issuing guidance except where necessary and where compliance burdens would be reduced rather than increased.” 

Enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1970, the FCRA protects information collected by Consumer Reporting Agencies and information in a Consumer Report cannot be provided to anyone who does not have a purpose specified in the Act. In addition, users of the information must notify the consumer when an adverse action is taken on the basis of consumer reports.

Why Did CFPB Withdraw Certain Guidance Documents?

According to the Notice, CFPB Acting Director Russell T. Vought issued a memorandum on April 11, 2025, prohibiting improper use of guidance and instructing the Bureau to identify and review all previously produced guidance. The CFPB determined that certain guidance should not be enforced or otherwise relied upon and is withdrawing these materials for three reasons:

• The CFPB is committed to issuing guidance only where that guidance is necessary and would reduce compliance burdens rather than increase them.
• The CFPB is reducing its enforcement activities in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s directives to deregulate and streamline bureaucracy, and therefore has no pressing need for interpretive guidance to remain in effect.
• The CFPB does not believe that any reliance interests compel retention of guidance for several reasons since parties understand that guidance is generally non-binding and generally does not create substantive rights. 

For more information about the CFPB Notice, please contact George Karithanom, Regulatory Implementation and Guidance Program Analyst at the Office of Regulations, at 202-435-7700 or https://reginquiries.consumerfinance.gov/. If you require the CFPB Notice in an alternative electronic format, please contact [email protected].

UPDATE (5/15/2025): CFPB Withdraws Proposed Rule on Data Broker Practices 

On May 15, 2025, the CFPB withdrew a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) – “Protecting Americans From Harmful Data Broker Practices (Regulation V); Withdrawal of Proposed Rule” – after determining that legislative rulemaking is not necessary or appropriate at this time to address the subject matter of the NPRM. The CFPB will not take any further action on the NPRM.

“The proposed rule would have implemented certain Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) definitions of consumer report and consumer reporting agency as well as certain of the FCRA’s provisions governing when consumer reporting agencies may furnish, and users may obtain, consumer reports,” according to the NPRM withdrawn by the CFPB.

“The Bureau is withdrawing this NPRM in light of updates to Bureau policies. Although the proposed rule intended to implement portions of the FCRA, in many respects it did so in a manner not aligned with the Bureau’s current interpretation of the FCRA, which it is in the process of revising, and its changed policy objectives,” explained the withdrawn NPRM.

ClearStar Helps Employers Comply with the FCRA

ClearStar – a Consumer Reporting Agency specializing in background checks, drug testing, and occupational health services – is the only screening firm providing a real-time compliance solution. ClearStar’s Assured Compliance® program manages local, state, and federal (FCRA) notice, disclosure, consent, and adverse action requirements for job candidates. Features include:

• Real-Time Compliance: One size does not fit all. Disclosures, notices, and consents are presented to candidates in a fully automated solution as required by local, state, and federal (FCRA) laws.
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• ClearStar is Global: Our technology supports candidates who have lived or worked outside of the United States.

A founding and accredited member of the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA), ClearStar is a global background screening company that has provided innovative solutions to employers from its corporate offices in Alpharetta, Georgia, since 1995 and is celebrating the company’s 30th anniversary in 2025. To learn more about ClearStar, contact us.

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Thomas Ahearn - Digital Content Editor

Thomas Ahearn is a Digital Content Editor at ClearStar, a leading Human Resources technology company specializing in background checks, drug testing, and occupational health screening. He writes about a variety of topics in the background screening industry including Artificial Intelligence (AI), "Ban the Box," class action lawsuits, credit reports, criminal records, drug testing, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), identity theft, privacy, social media screening, and workplace violence.

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