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CFPB Withdraws 67 Previously Issued Guidance Documents

Michael Christians • May 12, 2025

On May 12th, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published notice in the Federal Register that it is withdrawing dozens of interpretive rules, policy statements, and advisory opinions, dating as far back as 2011. The Bureau is withdrawing its guidance in light of the President’s directive to deregulate and streamline bureaucracy. In the future, the agency intends to only issue guidance when absolutely necessary, and only to reduce compliance burden.

While the amount of guidance being withdrawn by the Bureau is too voluminous to fully detail here, below is a flavor of the agency's previous interpretations that no longer carry any precedential value:

Policy Statements (8 withdrawn in total)
Statement of Policy Regarding Prohibition on Abusive Acts or Practices – issued in April 2023, this statement provided an analytical framework of what constitutes an abusive act and/or practice
Interpretive Rules (7 withdrawn in total)
ECOA (Regulation B); Discrimination on the Bases of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity – issued in March 2021, this interpretive rule expanded Regulation B’s prohibition against sex discrimination to include both sexual orientation and gender identity
Advisory Opinions (13 withdrawn in total)
Circulars (16 withdrawn in total)
Reopening Deposit Accounts that Consumers Previously Closed – issued in May 20243, this circular indicated that it is likely an unfair act and/or practice to unilaterally reopen a deposit account that was previously closed by the consumer
Bulletins (23 withdrawn in total)
Prohibition of Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices in the Collection of Consumer Debts – issued in July 2013, this bulletin outlined several debt collection practices that the agency would consider to be unfair, deceptive, and/or abusive

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