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.
Debt collection agencies are starting to use automated voice systems and AI-driven messaging to handle consumer calls. These systems help scale outreach, reduce call center staffing demands, and offer 24/7 service. A new study covering 11 European countries found that this shift changes how consumers emotionally experience debt collection, especially around stigma and empathy.
On today’s Consumer Finance Monitor podcast, we are releasing an episode about a timely and wide-ranging discussion on one of the most significant and fastest-evolving developments in commercial finance: the rapid “consumerization” of small business lending law.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today released enforcement actions for February 2026.
The enforcement actions released are terminations. The OCC terminates enforcement actions when a bank has demonstrated compliance with all articles of an enforcement action; or when the OCC determines that articles deemed “not in compliance” have become outdated or irrelevant to the bank’s current circumstances; or when the OCC incorporates the articles deemed “not in compliance” into a new action.
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