Hochul Signs NY Consumer Protection Law as Trump’s CFPB Recedes

New York is beefing up its consumer financial protection laws while the Trump administration dismantles the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at the federal level.

The Fostering Affordability and Integrity through Reasonable, or FAIR, Business Practices Act, which Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed Dec. 19, expands the state’s consumer protection law by making it easier for Attorney General Letitia James and private plaintiffs to pursue claims that companies engaged in unfair and abusive practices.

New York’s original consumer protection law, enacted in 1970, allowed the attorney general’s office and private plaintiffs to pursue companies only for deceptive practices.

The update to New York’s consumer protection law will allow the state to go after “predatory lenders, abusive debt collectors, dishonest mortgage servicers” and other bad actors, James said in a statement.

“At a time when the federal government is abandoning working people and raising the cost of living, this law will help us stop companies from taking advantage of New Yorkers,” she said.

The new law brings New York in line with around 40 other states that allow state attorneys general and private litigants to bring a wide range of claims alleging unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices.

New York’s law comes as the Trump administration moves to defang the CFPB, which can bring UDAAP claims under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

Acting Director Russell Vought has moved to close or transfer most CFPB enforcement probes and said publicly that he expects the agency to be shut down in the coming months, although the National Treasury Employees Union and other plaintiffs are looking to block his actions.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is set to hear oral arguments in the case in late February.