On June 9, 2025, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released a report urging City and State leaders to modernize consumer financial protections. The report outlines a series of legislative and regulatory recommendations aimed at closing gaps in existing protections and addressing emerging risks in the consumer financial marketplace.
The report comes amid a major regulatory pullback in the federal sector, highlighted by the CFPB’s layoffs and stalled enforcement posture (previously discussed here and here). The Comptroller identified five priority areas where local and state lawmakers could intervene to strengthen consumer safeguards. These include:
- Addressing enforcement and regulatory gaps. The report criticizes New York’s current consumer protection law, General Business Law § 349, as one of the weakest in the country and calls for enactment of the FAIR Business Practices Act. The Act, which is currently in the New York legislature and is championed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, would broaden the scope of prohibited business practices beyond “deceptive” acts and practices and also include those acts that are “unfair” or “abusive.”
- Expanding access to affordable banking. Among other steps, the report supports adoption of NYDFS’s proposed overdraft fee limits and broader access to IDNYC-validated accounts (which are New York City ID cards) at state-chartered banks.
- Regulating emerging financial products. The Comptroller supports passage of the End Loansharking Act, which would bring earned wage access products, rent-to-own contracts, and merchant cash advances under state lending laws and prohibit predatory practices.
- Enhancing privacy rights. The report calls for consumer data rights similar to those in California and Oregon, including the right to access, correct, and delete personal information.
- Improving transparency and consumer outreach. The report recommends a statewide or city-level public complaint database to enhance oversight, especially if the CFPB’s complaint database is weakened or disabled.
Putting It Into Practice: States are increasingly stepping in to expand consumer financial protections as federal oversight recedes (previously discussed here). Financial services companies operating in New York and other progressive jurisdictions should anticipate additional legislative and regulatory activity and reassess their compliance obligations accordingly.