Nicholas Smyth Email & Phone Number

In March 2024 I was promoted to Assistant Chief (second in command) of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. The Bureau investigates fraud and deception in the sale, servicing and furnishing of goods and products. When necessary we sue companies that violate the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, Consumer Financial Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), or other laws such as the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act or Landlord Tenant Act. We mediate more than 30,000 consumer complaints a year in an attempt to facilitate a resolution with business, and our specialized Scam Team provides rapid response to scam complaints.In my new role I continue to manage the Bureau's consumer finance cases. I also manage the Registration Unit, which handles compliance matters where the Bureau is a regulator or registrar for businesses such as home improvement contractors, health clubs, telemarketing companies.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I manage the Office of Attorney General’s work in student lending, mortgages, auto finance, high-cost lending, debt collection, credit reporting, debt settlement, and scams. I led the PA team (one of 4 lead states) in the Navient lawsuit and $1.85 billion, 39-state settlement. I am leading the Mariner Finance litigation, where PA, WA, NJ, OR, DC, NY, TN, IN, WI, NC, and IL are working to stop Mariner from ripping consumers off for hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Some of our other public cases include Trident (mortgage redlining), Wells Fargo (auto finance), and Citibank (credit card interest).

Taught The State Attorneys General in Fall 2023 and Spring 2022. Previously guest lectured about AGs and CFPB at UCLA, UMichigan, Temple, and Widener.

Pittsburgh And San Francisco

Managed all litigation, arbitration, and pre-litigation negotiations, including participation in mediations, reviewing pleadings, and approving settlements. Managed legal work related to customer service, collections, payments, loss mitigation, insurance, consumer complaints, bankruptcy, servicemember issues, and Federal and state regulatory issues. Counseled business on seven Federal consumer financial laws and consumer protection laws in 22 states. Negotiated and approved legal aspects of key vendor contracts and managed vendor due diligence, with emphasis on consumer privacy and data security.

Pittsburgh, Pa And Washington, Dc

Counseled: a top five bank on data security and privacy; a top five bank on auto finance fair lending examination; a top five bank on mortgage servicing investigation. Helped bank and nonbank clients prepare for and respond to examinations and investigations, including by conducting mock exams and assisting clients with difficult decisions regarding self-reporting and remediation. Advised clients on other consumer financial laws, including UDAAP, FCRA, FDCPA, TILA, TISA, CLA, EFTA, RESPA. Counseled FinTech companies (startups and more developed players) on compliance matters.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

I helped set up the CFPB's Office of Servicemember Affairs, and I have presented at the Army JAG School and to senior officials from state attorneys general offices. I served as the Bureau’s policy lead on a Pentagon working group that was created in response to the problems unearthed by the CFPB’s subprime auto settlements and prior state actions. In November 2014, the Secretary of Defense adopted our group's recommended reforms.In March 2011, I joined the CFPB's Enforcement Office when it was 9 people and Richard Cordray was Enforcement Director. I led an investigation into the debt collection and credit information furnishing practices of a nationwide car dealer and lender, which ended in an $8 million settlement in November 2014. I worked on CFPB v. ITT Educational Services, Inc., the Bureau’s first enforcement action against a for-profit college, and one of the Bureau’s first actions in Federal court. The complaint, filed in February 2014, alleges that ITT pushed students into high-cost private student loans, knowing that most of its students would not be able to repay the loans. I helped negotiate multimillion-dollar settlements in connection with a subprime auto loan program for military servicemembers. The settlements ordered $6.5 million in restitution to more than 50,000 servicemembers, and were the Bureau’s first public actions against a bank and its nonbank partner. The consent orders alleged violations of the Truth-in-Lending Act and deceptive marketing claims relating to extended warranties and an insurance product. I traveled on site to supervisory examinations half a dozen times. Two of the exams in which I participated became public enforcement actions, so I became familiar with the CFPB’s process for deciding whether an examination should become an enforcement action. I also provided legal analysis and support for an examination of a mortgage servicer that specializes in distressed loans.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Prior to joining the CFPB, I worked on the Treasury Department team (led by Michael Barr, Eric Stein, and Peggy Twohig) that drafted and helped pass Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which created the CFPB. Among other things, I helped define "abusive"​ acts and practices. My team dealt extensively with the staff of the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee as well as the staffs of members, and with the White House. We were deeply involved in negotiating the scope of the CFPB's jurisdiction and its funding sources. I led negotiations with Congressional and agency staff on certain provisions of the Act, and I represented the Treasury on a White House interagency working group on military families. As soon as the legislation was signed into law, our office began building the new CFPB.

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