Request for an Advisory Opinion

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) is proposing to establish an Advisory Opinion (AO) program. AOs issued under the proposed program would be interpretive rules under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) that respond to a specific need for clarity on an interpretive question regarding a CFPB-administered regulation or statute. The Federal Register notice inviting public comment on the proposed program lays out the process for submitting a request by an AO. Under the program, parties would be able to request interpretive guidance, in the form of an AO, to resolve regulatory uncertainty. The Bureau would have discretion to decide to which AOs to respond. The Bureau intends to publish AOs as well as a description of the incoming request. The requests for an AO, and thus the information collection, may be submitted by persons, primarily business or other for-profit entities. The information collected will be used by the Bureau to determine whether to pursue the issuance of an AO responsive to the request.

The latest form for Request for an Advisory Opinion expires 2023-11-30 and can be found here.