Since its inception, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has regularly issued enforcement actions in the form of Consent Orders intended to set industry-wide precedents; many of these orders include a penalty to be paid by the company. These penalties are deposited into the Bureau’s Civil Penalty Fund (Fund), which was established as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
In these consent orders, the way the CFPB uses the Fund is generally described in vague terms. An example from a Consent Order issued in October 2016 against Navy Federal Credit Union, which required them to pay $5,500,000 to the Civil Penalty Fund, reads as follows:
Respondent must treat the civil money penalty paid under this Consent Order as a penalty paid to the government for all purposes. Regardless of how the Bureau ultimately uses those funds, Respondent may not:
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