Bankruptcy's Adjunct Regulator

59 Pages Posted: 22 Oct 2019 Last revised: 30 Mar 2023

See all articles by Alexandra Sickler

Alexandra Sickler

University of North Dakota - School of Law

Kara J. Bruce

University of Oklahoma - College of Law

Date Written: September 15, 2019

Abstract

Since its inception, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has regulated a broad swath of conduct relating to consumer credit. This regulatory activity has, in several distinct ways, carried over into consumer bankruptcy. The Bureau has regulated bankruptcy issues directly, for instance by adopting rules that apply to how mortgage creditors communicate with borrowers in bankruptcy. But more often, the Bureau’s impact in consumer bankruptcy is a side effect of its oversight of debt collection and credit reporting markets. Although these activities establish the Bureau as an adjunct regulator in the consumer bankruptcy system, the scholarly literature largely has failed to explore the scope of the Bureau's bankruptcy authority and the advantages and disadvantages of its bankruptcy-related activities.

This Article fills that gap by providing the first comprehensive analysis of the Bureau's regulatory potential in consumer bankruptcy. It begins by cataloguing the history of Bureau's regulatory activities that directly or indirectly affect consumer bankruptcy. It then clarifies the Bureau's authority to carry out its consumer-financial-protection mission in the context of consumer bankruptcy. It argues that the bankruptcy system would benefit if the Bureau pursued an intentional, bankruptcy-focused regulatory strategy, and begins the work of sketching what such a strategy might entail. Finally, this paper explores how bankruptcy’s existing regulators could use the fruits of the Bureau's exercise of its core responsibilities, and in particular the vast body of information publicly available on the Bureau's website, to enhance their own effectiveness.

Keywords: bankruptcy, consumer law, consumer finance, chapter 7, chapter 13, regulation, CFPB, Consumer Financial Protection, Consumer Protection

Suggested Citation

Sickler, Alexandra and Bruce, Kara J., Bankruptcy's Adjunct Regulator (September 15, 2019). Florida Law Review, Vol. 72, 2020, University of Toledo Legal Studies Research Paper No. 12, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3455741 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3455741

Alexandra Sickler (Contact Author)

University of North Dakota - School of Law ( email )

215 Centennial Drive
P.O. Box 9003
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9003
United States

Kara J. Bruce

University of Oklahoma - College of Law ( email )

300 Timberdell Road
Norman, OK 73019
United States

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