Having previously announced partnerships with the Cities of Chicago and Newark, the CFPB has now announced its first partnership with a tribal government—the Navajo Nation. A Memorandum of Understanding between the CFPB and the Navajo Nation Department of Justice addresses the mechanics of the information sharing, such as how the CFPB will respond to third party requests for tribal information, how the Navajo Nation DOJ can request information from the CFPB, and the confidentiality of shared information.
Except for the statement that the partnership is intended to support “[the Bureau's] work to prevent harmful practices that target Native American consumers,” the CFPB’s announcement provides no specifics about the nature of the information expected to be shared. In a recent blog post about the settlement in Cobell v. Salazar, the CFPB indicated that its enforcement staff would be “on the watch for scams and other harmful financial products that target Native Americans” and asked consumers and tribal leaders to “[r]eport problems with payday loans, settlement anticipation loans, auto loans, or anything bought with credit.”
