The Federal Trade Commission has formally eliminated the Non-Compete Clause Rule (16 CFR Part 910) from the Code of Federal Regulations. This procedural step closes the chapter on the agency’s attempted nationwide ban and aligns federal regulations with court rulings that blocked the rule before it could take effect.
As delinquency rates rise, the volume of accounts represented by Debt Settlement Companies (DSCs) has reached a critical mass. Historically, many lenders have viewed the presence of a DSC as an obstacle—a third party that "interrupts" the direct relationship with the consumer. However, a more productive operational view is to treat the DSC as a structured resolution partner that can be leveraged to liquidate risk more efficiently than traditional outbound efforts.
For the first time since 2017, the total number of college- and university-affiliated credit card issuers did not decrease, but stayed at 133, according to the CFPB’s annual “College Credit Card Agreements” report.
On January 27, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Status of Reorganization Efforts (GAO‑26‑108448), that offers a detailed snapshot of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB or Bureau) ongoing downsizing and restructuring. This is the first of two GAO reports that focus on the CFPB’s reorganization and its ability to fulfill its statutory functions going forward.
In this special joint episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Payments Pros, Taylor Gess and Kim Phan discuss key privacy and data security risks in point-of-sale finance. They dive into regulators’ growing view that every player in the payments chain shares responsibility for protecting data, highlighting best practices for vendor management, PCI DSS oversight, and incident response planning. The episode also touches on the shifting patchwork of state privacy and breach notification laws, GLBA exemptions, and the risks of data monetization, including when packaging and selling transaction data can trigger Fair Credit Reporting Act obligations.
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