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Rep. Williams Protects Businesses from CFPB’s Arbitrary Enforcement Rules

July 22, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Roger Williams (TX-25) introduced the "Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices Uniformity Act" to protect businesses from arbitrary enforcement actions from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB has the ability to go after businesses that engage in unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices (UDAAP) in connection to consumer financial products. While the terms "unfair" and "deceptive" have been well defined and used in the financial industry for decades, the term "abusive" was added in the Dodd–Frank Act and cannot be objectively defined.

"We must ensure consumers are protected from deceptive practices, we must also ensure businesses know the rules of the road before they could be subjected to fines and enforcement actions by the CFPB for something that was never previously deemed or known to be illegal," said Congressman Williams. "This legislation will remove the subjective nature by which the CFPB can target main street businesses, put an end to the practice of regulation by enforcement, and create uniformity in how CFBP regulates certain acts."

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Congressman Roger Williams represents the 25th Congressional District of Texas and serves as a member of the House Committee on Financial Services and as Vice-Ranking Member of the House Small Business Committee.