Got a check in the mail from the CFPB? Here’s how to tell if it’s legit | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2024)

FAQs

Got a check in the mail from the CFPB? Here’s how to tell if it’s legit | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? ›

If you're contacted by someone from the CFPB and want to confirm whether it's real or a scam, call our consumer call center at (855) 411-2372 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

How do I know if this check's real or a scam? If you would like to verify whether a check from the CFPB is real, you can view our payments by case and click on the link for the case for which you received a check. You should then contact the payments administrator using the contact information listed.

We sometimes send warning letters to advise recipients that certain actions may have violated federal law and to help those entities review certain practices to ensure that they comply with federal law.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that implements and enforces Federal consumer financial law and ensures that markets for consumer financial products are fair, transparent, and competitive.

All civil penalties are deposited into the Civil Penalty Fund where they are pooled and can be used for payments to eligible harmed consumers from any case.

A legitimate check features the issuing bank's logo on the front. If there's no bank logo on a check you've received, it's likely to be a fake. If there is a logo, check it against the bank's logo on its website to ensure it's identical. The quality of the printing counts, too.

Any legitimate check issued by a bank has a check number. The check number appears at the top right-hand corner of the check. If the check does not have a check number, the check is fake. If it does have a check number, check the number against the number in the magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) line.

CFPB-administered payments

The person or company that violated the law pays the CFPB, and then we send the money to harmed consumers, sometimes through a payments administrator. These payments are also known as Bureau-Administered Redress.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) is an independent bureau within the Federal Reserve System that empowers consumers with the information they need to make financial decisions in the best interests of them and their families.

The CFPB's lawsuit against SoLo seeks a stop to alleged unlawful conduct, forfeiture of ill-gotten gains, redress payments to harmed consumers, and imposition of a civil money penalty, which will be deposited in the CFPB's victims relief fund.

What banks does the CFPB regulate? ›

The CFPB has primary authority to enforce federal consumer financial laws for banks and other depository institutions with total assets of more than $10 billion, and their affiliates, which collectively hold more than 80 percent of the banking industry's assets.

The CFPB supervises a range of companies to assess their compliance with federal consumer financial laws. We have supervisory authority over banks, thrifts, and credit unions with assets over $10 billion, as well as their affiliates.

Protecting you from junk fees

The CFPB is working to save households billions of dollars a year by reducing exploitative junk fees charged by banks and financial companies.

When a financial institution, individual, or other entity subject to the CFPB's authority breaks the law, the CFPB may take enforcement action against them. In certain cases, the CFPB may partner with other federal, state, or local agencies to investigate the wrongdoing and coordinate the enforcement action.

Enforcement relies on a number of sources of information to identify potential issues that may warrant opening an investigation, including: Consumer complaints. The Bureau's whistleblower hotline. Referrals from federal regulators and other local, state, and federal agencies.

The CFPB investigates potential violations of federal consumer financial laws by entities or individuals within its authority and initiates public enforcement actions when appropriate.

To verify a check, you need to contact the bank that the money is coming from. Find the bank name on the front of the check. Search for the bank online and visit the bank's official site to get a phone number for customer service. Don't use the phone number printed on the check.

This can be done by contacting the issuing bank or credit union and providing the necessary information, such as the account holder's name and account number. By verifying account holder information, you can further reduce the risk of check fraud and ensure that the check you receive is legitimate.