CFPB Guidance on Commenting on Bureau Notices and Regulations

CFPB Comment Opportunities

Published November 1st, 2022

Detected March 14th, 2026

Summary

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has updated its guidance on how the public can submit comments on Bureau notices and regulations. The document clarifies procedures for submitting comments, what types of comments are generally posted publicly, and what information should be excluded.

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What changed

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued updated guidance detailing the process for submitting public comments on its notices and proposed regulations. This guidance clarifies that comments submitted through any means specified in a notice are generally posted to the docket on Regulations.gov, with specific exceptions for duplicate, copyrighted, confidential business information, spam, threats, or disavowed submissions. It also advises against including proprietary or sensitive personal information in comments.

Regulated entities and interested parties should be aware that all submitted comments become part of the public record and are subject to disclosure. While this document does not impose new compliance obligations, it serves as a procedural guide for engaging with the CFPB's rulemaking process. Individuals and organizations planning to submit comments should review the guidance to ensure their submissions are processed as intended and to understand what information will be made public.

What to do next

Review CFPB guidance on submitting public comments
Ensure all submitted comments exclude proprietary or sensitive personal information
Follow instructions in the 'ADDRESSES' section of specific notices for submission

Source document (simplified)

Commenting on notices

Bureau notices open for public comment generally are posted to Notice and opportunities to comment when publicly released, which may occur prior to a notice’s publication in the Federal Register. Depending on the size of the notice, the announcement may come a few days to a few weeks before publication.

All notices requesting public comment and published in the Federal Register are assigned dockets on Regulations.gov. Dockets generally are opened on the day a notice is published in the Federal Register. If you want to submit a comment on a notice that has been released but not yet published, you can either wait for the published version (preferred) or submit a comment through alternate means described in the ADDRESSES section of the notice.

The Bureau currently has a policy of generally posting all comments received (by any means specified in the notice) to the docket on Regulations.gov. All comments, including attachments and other supporting materials, will become part of the public record and subject to public disclosure.

However, the Bureau may, in its discretion, decide not to post or to withdraw certain comments and other materials, or portions thereof, including the following:

Duplicate identical submissions (submitted by the same commenter(s) through different means)
Copyrighted material owned by someone other than the submitter
Confidential business information (CBI)
Spam submissions
Threats of harm or violence
Comments that are disavowed by the named author or submitter

Since the Bureau generally posts all comments received, please do not include proprietary information or sensitive personal information (such as account numbers or Social Security numbers), or names of other individuals. The Bureau does not independently verify identity or contact information provided by a commenter. Nor does the Bureau, as a matter of course, edit or remove any identifying or contact information.

In its rulemakings, the Bureau uses the public comments submitted in response to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to inform its decision-making by considering the substance of the comments submitted. The General Services Administration, which manages Regulations.gov, provides more information on the data that the Bureau collects on comments submitted through Regulations.gov.

Tips for submitting effective comments

Page last modified

Nov. 1, 2022

05:02 PM EDT

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