US consumer watchdog removes its public registry of bad actors

The US consumer financial protection agency has ended its rule requiring nonbank companies to report public legal orders against them. This means the public will no longer have a central place to find out which companies have been penalized for consumer financial misconduct.

The consumer watchdog created this registry to make it easier for the public to track companies that repeatedly broke consumer protection laws. It was meant to shine a light on repeat offenders. Now, that information will be harder to find, scattered across various government agencies.