B2B or Not B2B, That Is the Question: The CFPB and Applicability of Federal Consumer Financial Laws to Small Business and Business-Purpose Lending

Nearly five years after announcing it would “expeditiously” implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act concerning data collection on small business lending, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finally seems to be taking action. Not only is it moving to promulgate the required regulations, but it has placed fair lending to the small business community among its top 10 priorities. This Legal Update describes the scope of the CFPB’s authority over the industry and steps that small business and business-purpose lenders may take to manage compliance risk.