Banks Slam Consumer Watchdog’s Efforts to Define ‘Abusive’ Acts

Banks, debt collectors, and consumer lenders are calling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to scrap or rework a new policy defining “abusive” practices.

Obscuring potentially harmful product features and using so-called dark patterns in digital interfaces to take “unreasonable advantage” of consumers would be considered abusive under an April policy statement from the agency.

But the policy doesn’t provide enough clarity for businesses under the CFPB’s jurisdiction, and in some instances may conflict with existing agency rules allowing for the use of form contracts in mortgages and other products, several industry trade groups said in comment letters to the ...