On 9/4/2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a statement regarding their efforts to cease operations of an auto group. The court-approved settlement resolves charges that the dealerships deceived consumers and falsified information on vehicle financing applications. According to their statement, the FTC explained that the auto group “ falsified consumers’ income and down payment information on vehicle financing applications and misrepresented important financial terms in vehicle advertisements.”

On 8/31/2020, the CFPB issued a report that examines the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer credit. In their release, the CFPB explains that consumers have not experienced significant increases in delinquency or other negative credit outcomes despite the sharp increases in unemployment caused by the pandemic. In addition, the release explains that creditors and lenders increased payment assistance to borrowers where student loan and first-lien mortgage accounts had the largest increase in assistance in terms of magnitude, but increases in assistance on auto loan and credit card accounts were also substantial. Further more, the report found that credit card debt access was reduced by financial institutions, but the effects of this appear to be “small in magnitude.”

On 8/25/2020, the CFPB issued a request for information (RFI) to examine the impact of the rules that implement the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009. According to their release, the CFPB is seeking public feedback on the CARD Act Rules’ economic impact on small entities and is also requesting comments from the public on how the consumer credit card market is functioning as part of a Bureau review required by the CARD Act.