b'Looking Ahead to 2022Congress 2018 repeal of the CFPBs indirect auto lending bulletin may prove to be a roadblock should Despite the blip in the number of publicly announcednow-Director Chopra seek to initiate a CFPB rulemaking auto finance enforcement actions this year, there arein this space. Reinstating that bulletin would require several reasons why we fully expect auto lending tocongressional action, which is exceedingly unlikely be a focal point for federal and state regulators andbefore the upcoming mid-term elections. Though enforcement agencies over the coming year.Director Chopra may still initiate other rulemakings in First, in its COVID-19 Prioritized Assessments Specialthis space, it is also likely that a Director Chopra-led Edition of Supervisory Highlights, the CFPB observedCFPB will engage in rulemaking by enforcementthat the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in large numbersi.e., enforcing a new interpretation of an existing statute of payment assistance requests and expandedor regulation in the context of an enforcement action. payment assistance programs geared to assistFinally, the CFPB may also turn its rulemaking and borrowers in re-paying their auto loans. However, atenforcement attention to subprime auto finance, and the same time, the CFPBs prioritized assessments ofin particular the add-on products often associated auto loan servicers identified practices that presented awith auto loan originations to subprime customers. In risk of consumer harm associated with these increasedhis statement, then-Commissioner Chopra raised the payment assistance requests and accommodations,prospect of an FTC rulemaking that would address such as servicers failing to provide consumers withadd-on products, and during the course of this past necessary information regarding interest accrualyears the CFPB settled one enforcement action related during deferred payment periods, withdrawal of fundsto loss damage wavers. Though to date the CFPB has for payments after deferments, and notices sent toprimarily been focused on whether charges for such consumers threatening actions (e.g., repossessions)products are clearly and conspicuously disclosed to that the servicer had in fact suspended. As in otherborrowers, a Director Chopra-led CFPB may take a areas, we expect the CFPB to keep a watchful eye onmore comprehensive approach toward protecting auto loan servicers efforts to provide consumers withconsumers from what he sees as the abuses inherent in payment flexibility and accommodations as a result ofthe products.the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Second, prior to his confirmation as Director of theWhat to WatchCFPB, then-Commissioner Chopra, issued a statement emphasizing the importance of a disparate impactNew federal guidance and/or investigations related analysis in uncovering discrimination in the auto lendingto dealer markups/discretionary pricing practices;space. Commissioner Chopras comments came after the FTC announced a settlement with Bronx Honda,Continued federal and state enforcement activity resolving allegations that Bronx Hondas pricing policiesdesigned to protect servicemembers; andresulted in African-American and Hispanic customersNew examinations and enforcement actions paying more in fees and finance charges than similarlytargeting auto finance companies related to situated white customers. Commissioner Chopra urgedCOVID-19 servicing practices.the FTC to use its rulemaking authority to police dealer markup practices because case-by-case enforcement is not sufficient to root out discrimination and other unlawful practices. He also urged the FTC to use more data-driven detection of discrimination and a systemic approach to protecting Americans from auto market abuses. 52'