The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a new “Humility Pledge” Nov. 21 that its examiners are now required to read aloud at the start of each supervisory event.
The pledge reiterates the CFPB’s April 2025 supervision and enforcement priorities, including directing resources toward the most pressing threats to consumers, focusing on matters clearly within the Bureau’s statutory authority, and avoiding duplicative oversight where states or other regulators are already active. Its purpose is to reassure supervised institutions that the CFPB will conduct examinations transparently and limit its information requests to what is consistent with these priorities. The pledge also underscores the Bureau’s intention to work collaboratively with supervised entities and encourages self-reporting and resolving issues through supervision whenever possible, rather than through enforcement. Matters resolved in supervision will remain confidential.
The pledge is the latest signal that the CFPB is responding to criticism of overly intrusive examinations under prior leadership. While a more cooperative federal supervisory approach is a positive development, NIADA reminds dealers to remain vigilant in meeting their compliance obligations. The CFPB continues to defer to state regulatory authorities that actively enforce consumer financial protection laws, and many states are expected to pursue aggressive compliance examinations in the year ahead.
