b'finance industry, one thing is clear: the industry should Within the first weeks of his tenure, Directorbe prepared for new regulations and policy statements that impose onerous compliance obligations and Chopra took a number of actions and issuedaggressive enforcement by federal agencies. numerous statementsmany of which evidenced his intent to reshape the agencysKey Trendsregulatory and enforcement agenda. In 2021, Goodwin tracked 96 publicly announced federal and state enforcement actions related to consumer finance, representing a slight decrease from the 111 such inMarch 2021 the CFPB rescinded its Statementactions tracked in 2020. of Policy Regarding Prohibition on Abusive Acts orNearly half of all enforcement activity across the year Practices, issued in January 2020. The 2020 policyis attributable to actions initiated by state enforcement was originally intended to provide clarity and addressofficials and agencies. Both the number of actions uncertainty concerning the abusiveness standard.tracked and the number of states initiating at least Ultimately, the CFPBs new leadership felt the policyone enforcement action increased from 2020 to 2021. statement did not provide any clarity to regulatedCalifornia and Massachusetts continued to lead state-entities and, in fact, would foster uncertainty in thelevel enforcement activity, together bringing almost as long run. The pace of change only accelerated oncemany publicly announced actions as all other states Rohit Chopra was confirmed as Director of the CFPBcombined. Though the state actions covered a wide inSeptember.array of issues, a majority of actions concerned either For example, Director Chopra announced severaldebt collection and debt settlement or student lending initiatives ranging from increased scrutiny on fairor student loan servicing (or both). Despite the uptick lending to reengaging enforcement in the paydayin state enforcement activity, these efforts resulted in lending spacesignaling a more aggressivetotal recoveries of approximately $55 million, a modest enforcement posture for the CFPB and a markedtotal sum compared to the total state recoveries seen in departure from his predecessor. 2020. Notably, however, those 2020 recoveries were Other new (and familiar) faces in leadership rolesdriven by a small number of high-dollar settlements, reflect this same shift in regulatory priorities. In Octoberincluding two coordinated state settlements that totaled of 2021, newly-appointed Attorney General Merricknearly $800 million.Garland announced the U.S. Department of JusticesOn the federal side, the number of actions brought or renewed focus on fair lending through a specificsettled by the CFPB decreased from 2020, as Goodwin initiative to combat redlining. The initiative calls fortracked only 27 such actions during 2021 (four of which enhanced state-federal or U.S. Department of Justice- were joint federal-state or federal inter-agency actions). U.S. Attorneys Office (DOJ) cooperation whereverThis reflects a decline from the 52 publicly announced possible to supplement federal investigations with theCFPB actions tracked in 2020, though that discrepancy local expertise required to understand specific housingis likely attributable to a combination of factors, including markets and local communities credit needs.Director Kraningers efforts to wrap up enforcement Though it would be premature to predict all the ways thatactions before leaving office, the number of matters in the change in administration will impact the consumerthe pipeline upon the change in administration, and the extended delay in confirmation of a permanent director. 5'