CFPB Issues Interpretive Rule Asserting that FCRA Broadly Preempts State Consumer Reporting Laws

The CFPB recently issued an interpretive rule (the 2025 Rule) that confirms its withdrawal of a 2022 interpretive rule (the 2022 Rule) and asserts that FCRA “generally preempts State laws that touch on broad areas of credit reporting, consistent with Congress’s intent to create national standards for the credit reporting system.”

As relevant here, FCRA expressly preempts a state law if such state law regulates any of the subjects that FCRA specifically lists.  The 2025 Rule states that FCRA’s descriptions of these specific subject matters should be interpreted broadly.  “By preempting laws respecting the ‘subject matter’ of some of FCRA’s broadest provisions — and then defining that subject matter in broad terms through the ‘relating to’ clause,” the rule concludes, “Congress plainly meant to sweep away most State regulation in the area.”

For example, FCRA preempts a state law “with respect to any subject matter regulated under section 1681c, relating to information contained in consumer reports.”  The 2022 Rule read this provision to mean that FCRA preempts a state law “with respect to” section 1681c that also “relat[es] to” information contained in consumer reports.  Whereas the 2025 Rule now reads this provision more broadly to preempt any state law “touching on the subject matter of 1681c.”

In any event, because both rules are interpretive rules, neither rule is — or was, in the case of the 2022 Rule — legally binding and has — or had, in the case of the 2022 Rule — force or effect of law.