CFPB v. TCF National Bank

Case Updates

The District Court for the District of Minnesota denied the Chamber's motion to appear as amicus curiae.

The U.S. Chamber filed an amicus brief urging the District Court for the District of Minnesota to dismiss the amended complaint filed by the CFPB against TCF National Bank.

The Chamber’s brief argues that the CFPB’s structure violates the Constitution. The CFPB’s broad regulatory authority is exercised by a single Director, who has exclusive authority to appoint Bureau staff. Further, the Director may be removed by the President only for cause—and has the ability to spend nearly $650 million dollars each year on Bureau operations, without seeking or obtaining the approval of Congress and the President. The combination of all these features conflicts fundamentally with the self-governance and accountability principles on which the Constitution rests. Because the structure of the CFPB is unconstitutional, its amended complaint in this case was outside its statutory authority and should be dismissed.

If the amended complaint is not dismissed, the brief argues that Counts I and II should be dismissed to the extent the CFPB seeks penalties or compensatory relief for conduct that occurred prior to the effective date of Sections 1031 and 1036 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act, and Counts III and IV should be dismissed to the extent they relate to consumers who incurred an overdraft fee outside the Electronic Fund Transfer Act’s one-year statute of limitations.

Laura R. Hammargren, Andrew J. Pincus, Stephen C.N. Lilley, and Matthew A. Waring of Mayer Brown LLP served as counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.