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Education

lawsuits that it is looking for payment Meanwhile, a dozen Republican senators introduced a bill last month that
processors to be proactive in their would give lawmakers control over the CFPB's funding, which is currently
risk mitigation tactics and maintain subsidized by the Federal Reserve. And the drama gets even more interesting.
acceptable levels of compliance and In response to a 2014 lawsuit by a mortgage service provider, a panel of three
monitoring systems. To get down to judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals found that the structure of the CFPB itself
specifics, here are a few key points was unconstitutional. But just recently, the court granted the CFPB's request
to help guide you in navigating all of for a review by a broader set of judges. Stay tuned: oral arguments will begin
this: May 24, 2017.
• Actively check for merchants
with high refund and charge- Brett Husak is Director of High Risk at National Bank Services. Contact him via email at bhusak@
back rates in an attempt to de- nationalbankservices.com.
tect and prevent fraud.
• Review and take action regu-
larly to rectify any discrep-
ancies between dates and
amounts deducted from cus-
tomer accounts compared to
what was originally autho-
rized.
• Consistently monitor consum-
er complaints around payment
processing activities. A formal
program to collect such data
works best along with a struc-
tured complaint response sys-
tem to address any compliance
issues or shortcomings.
• Scrutinize and be cautious of
arrangements that involve any
types of illegal fees, even if
the processor does not initiate
such fees. The CFPB finds pay-
ment processors equally liable
for providing the assistance to
getting these fees for third par-
ties by engaging in what it calls
"unfair acts."
Shifting federal focus

Whether the CFPB's current level
of control will continue remains to
be seen. It should come as no sur-
prise that the Trump administration
would be hostile to the CFPB, and
the agency has become a target of in-
tense scrutiny by Republicans since
they gained control of Congress last
November.

Representative Jeb Hensarling,
Chairman of the House Financial
Services Committee, is expected to
introduce a bill that would diminish
the power of the CFPB and make it
easier to remove its director. Many
are hopeful that Cordray will be re-
placed by a more business-friendly
leader or possibly by a panel of com-
missioners.
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