CFPB Supervision Division Adopts 'Humility Pledge' for Exams

Detected March 28th, 2026

Summary

The CFPB's Supervision Division has implemented a new 'Humility Pledge' for its examiners, effective immediately. This pledge aims to change the approach to examinations, focusing on transparency, respect, and efficiency, and prioritizing pattern and practice violations with tangible consumer harm.

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What changed

The CFPB's Supervision Division has introduced a new 'Humility Pledge' for its examiners, signaling a significant shift in examination practices. This pledge, to be read to supervised entities before exams, emphasizes a more respectful, prompt, professional, and budget-conscious approach. Key changes include focusing on pressing consumer threats, avoiding duplication with state regulators, providing advance notice of exams, and narrowing the scope of information requests to priority markets and pattern-and-practice violations with tangible consumer harm. Examiners will be encouraged to complete work promptly and under budget, with follow-up requests requiring discussion and tailoring to the exam scope.

Regulated entities can expect increased transparency and clarity regarding examination expectations. The CFPB aims to foster a collaborative approach, encouraging self-reporting and resolving issues within Supervision rather than Enforcement. While no specific compliance deadline is stated, the changes are effective immediately for the upcoming examination cycle. Entities experiencing inconsistencies with these principles are encouraged to contact Calvin R. Hagins or Mark Paoletta.

What to do next

Review the CFPB's 'Humility Pledge' and updated examination approach.
Prepare for examinations with advance notice and a clearer scope of inquiry.
Engage collaboratively with examiners and report issues promptly.

Source document (simplified)

Washington, D.C.— Today, the CFPB made changes to how the Supervision Division conducts exams. Previously, under the leadership of Director Chopra and Biden’s Director of Supervision Lorelei Salas, a former Soros activist who was put on leave in February 2025, this division was the weaponized arm of the CFPB.

Under President Trump and Director Vought’s leadership, that is no longer the case. Starting today, Supervision Division Examiners will be reading a ‘Humility Pledge’ to each supervised entity before conducting exams. Where these exams were previously done with unnecessary personnel, outrageous travel expenses, and with the thuggery pervasive in prior leadership, they will now be done respectfully, promptly, professionally, and under budget.

No longer will the CFPB Supervision Division ask invasive and irrelevant questions, demanding expansive information they do not need.

Read the script below or here.

CFPB HUMILITY IN SUPERVISION PLEDGE

Although supervisory information itself is confidential, how the CFPB approaches supervisions is not. The statement below will be provided to all examiners to be read to a supervised entity at the beginning of the examination.

The upcoming Supervision examination cycle is going to be fundamentally different from the prior ones under the former Director Chopra. For 2026 examinations, in line with the Memorandum on Supervision and Enforcement Priorities (April, 2025) the Bureau will focus its supervision resources on pressing threats to consumers, particularly service members and their families, and veterans, and in the areas that are clearly within the Bureau’s statutory authority. The Bureau will also avoid, where possible, duplication of supervision, where States or other regulators are already doing that job.

For this round of examinations, there will be greater transparency regarding the process and clarity regarding expectations. Bureau-supervised entities will receive advance notice of scheduled examinations providing them with the opportunity to plan. Requests related to exams will focus on Bureau priorities and hew to the defined scope of the exam and not venture into areas outside the scope. The scope of the exams will be on identified priority markets and the resulting findings will focus on pattern and practice violations of law where there is tangible and identifiable consumer harm.

Likewise, Matters Requiring Attention will focus on pattern and practice violations of law where there is substantive and identifiable consumer harm or clear violations of the disclosure requirements.

No longer will the Bureau ask for expansive data sets or other information which may seem unrelated to the exam or include information inconsistent with Bureau priorities. Any follow-up requests by examiners will first be discussed with an entity and will be tailored to the scope of the exam and the information already received from the entity. Examination times, which used to be 8 weeks, will be reduced commensurate with the defined scope of exams.

Examiners will be encouraged and incentivized to complete the work promptly and under budget. Supervised entities can expect timely responses from the Bureau and appropriate follow-up on outstanding and open matters such as exams and MRAs.

In sum, the Bureau’s goal is to work collaboratively with the entities to review entities’ processes for compliance and/or remedy existing problems. The Bureau is doing so by encouraging self-reporting and resolving issues in Supervision, where feasible, instead of via Enforcement.

If your experience with this round of examination is inconsistent with these principles, we encourage you to reach out to Calvin R. Hagins, Principal Deputy Assistant Director for the Office of Supervision Examinations, calvin.hagins@cfpb.gov and/or Chief Legal Officer, Mark Paoletta, mark.paoletta@cfpb.gov.