CFPB Sets the Annual FCRA Disclosure Charge Cap

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized its annual recalculation of the maximum amount a consumer reporting agency may charge a consumer for a file disclosure under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The rule, an amendment to an appendix of Regulation V published as 89 FR 94599 in the Federal Register on November 29, 2024, is effective January 1, 2025. For consumer reporting agencies, and for the financial services firms that furnish data to them, rely on their reports, or operate one as an affiliate, the recalculated ceiling is the operative figure for the 2025 calendar year.

This guide explains, in plain English, what the rule does, who it reaches, and what financial services firms should do to keep pace with an adjustment the Bureau makes every year. It leads with the obligation and the primary source, not with a vendor. One note on scope up front: every date, citation, and figure below is reproduced verbatim from the Federal Register notice and the eCFR, and where this guide does not have a specific number in hand — including the dollar figure this rule actually sets for 2025 — it says so plainly and points to the primary source rather than estimate one.

Key Takeaways

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule, cited as 89 FR 94599, amending an appendix to Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

• The rule is effective January 1, 2025; it was published November 29, 2024, per the Federal Register.

• The rule sets the maximum allowable charge a consumer reporting agency may bill a consumer for a file disclosure under section 609 of the FCRA, for the 2025 calendar year.

• Per the rule's own abstract, the Bureau is required to recalculate this ceiling annually — this notice is the update for the 2025 calendar year, not a one-time change.

• The amendment lives under 12 CFR Part 1022, and its authoritative text is in the Federal Register, with current regulatory language available through the eCFR.

What This Rule Actually Does

The rule, cited as 89 FR 94599, is a final rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau amending an appendix to Regulation V, the regulation that implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act. According to the rule's abstract, the Bureau is required to calculate annually the dollar amount of the maximum allowable charge for disclosures by a consumer reporting agency to a consumer under section 609 of the FCRA, and this final rule establishes that maximum allowable charge for the 2025 calendar year.

That is a narrower action than it might sound. The rule does not rewrite what a consumer reporting agency must disclose, and it does not touch the broader dispute, accuracy, or furnishing obligations elsewhere in the FCRA. It resets one number: the ceiling on what a consumer reporting agency may charge a consumer who requests a file disclosure outside the free-disclosure circumstances the statute already covers. Because the Bureau performs this recalculation on a fixed annual cycle, the practical work for anyone who tracks the figure is reconciliation — confirming that whatever number appears in an internal policy, a script, or a vendor agreement still matches the one the Bureau just set in 89 FR 94599.

This guide paraphrases that abstract and does not stretch beyond it. Where the abstract does not supply a figure — the actual dollar ceiling adopted for 2025 — this guide does not supply one either; that number belongs to the Federal Register notice itself, not to a secondhand summary.

Who Is Affected

The rule speaks directly to consumer reporting agencies: the entities that compile and sell consumer report information and that charge consumers for file disclosures under section 609 of the FCRA. Financial services firms sit in that picture in three overlapping ways. Some financial institutions own, operate, or are affiliated with a reporting function that itself meets the definition of a consumer reporting agency, which puts them directly inside the recalculated ceiling. Many more interact with consumer reporting agencies as furnishers of data or as users of consumer reports, and their vendor agreements, consumer-facing scripts, and dispute-response materials may reference what a reporting agency may lawfully charge. And compliance, legal, and consumer-relations teams at financial firms are the ones who actually maintain that language, whether or not their employer is itself a reporting agency.

The practical lesson mirrors what shows up across this kind of annual recalculation: "directly regulated" is not the same question as "who has to update something." A financial firm that never charges a consumer a dime for a file disclosure can still be carrying stale language in a script, a disclosure template, or a vendor contract that cites last year's figure rather than the one the Bureau just set in 89 FR 94599.

The Dates That Govern This Rule

Two dates anchor this notice, and covered parties should hold them separately rather than collapse them into one. The rule was published November 29, 2024 in the Federal Register — the date it became part of the public record. It is effective January 1, 2025 — the date the recalculated ceiling became the operative figure for the 2025 calendar year.

Because the Bureau recalculates this figure annually, the January 1 effective date is not a one-time deadline to clear and forget. It is the first day of a calendar year in which one specific number governs, followed by another recalculation for the next calendar year. Firms that treat the figure as a static constant, set once and never revisited, are the ones most likely to be citing a stale number by the time the next notice publishes.

What Financial Firms Should Do

None of the following requires a legal conclusion to begin. Each is an operational readiness step that a compliance or vendor-management function can start immediately.

• Read the source first. Start with the Federal Register notice at 89 FR 94599 and the current regulatory text through the eCFR for 12 CFR Part 1022.

• Confirm whether the firm, or an affiliate, meets the definition of a consumer reporting agency. That determination decides whether the recalculated ceiling binds the firm directly.

• Locate every place the figure appears. Search vendor contracts, consumer-facing scripts, disclosure templates, and dispute-response materials for any reference to what a reporting agency may charge for a file disclosure.

• Reconcile against the current notice. Confirm that whatever number is currently in use matches the figure the Bureau set in 89 FR 94599 for the 2025 calendar year, rather than a prior year's figure.

• Build the review into a recurring, annual cycle. Because the Bureau recalculates this ceiling every year, a one-time fix does not hold; treat the figure as managed reference data, checked on a known schedule.

• Keep a short memo. Tie any update back to the citation and CFR part so the change is traceable if an auditor asks.

Where a firm needs a definitive read on whether it meets the consumer-reporting-agency definition, or how the recalculated ceiling applies to a specific product or vendor relationship, that question belongs with qualified counsel, not with an internal checklist.

Operationalizing FCRA Disclosure-Charge Tracking at Volume

Catching one annual recalculation by hand is manageable. Catching it every year, across every script, template, and vendor contract that cites the figure, without anyone deliberately re-checking the Federal Register each January, is a different problem. This is where a monitoring layer earns its place. US Tech Automations can configure a workflow that watches the Federal Register feed for Regulation V actions, extracts the citation and effective date the moment a new recalculation posts, and routes a flagged alert to the reviewer who owns FCRA disclosure compliance — rather than leaving the check to someone's calendar reminder. For a firm already using US Tech Automations to monitor other regulatory feeds, adding this Regulation V cadence to the same watch list is a configuration change, not a new project.

The second layer is internal: a pipeline can scan a firm's own scripts, disclosure templates, and vendor agreements for language that references the disclosure-charge ceiling, flag anything that has not been touched since the last recalculation, and route those items to compliance for confirmation. US Tech Automations builds that intake-and-route layer so a reviewer sees a deduplicated queue with the citation and effective date already attached, rather than a raw list of documents to search by hand. The workflow does not decide whether a firm meets the consumer-reporting-agency definition or whether a given figure is current — a human reviewer confirms every conclusion against the primary source. The workflow's job is only to make sure the right person sees the update in time. If it would help to see how this maps to your firm's compliance stack, you can review plans and pricing.

How This Fits the Broader Regulatory Window

This rule is one entry in a point-in-time index of 259 U.S. federal rules published July 1, 2024 – July 5, 2026 by 10 agencies governing the industries this guide covers. That index is a snapshot, not a substitute for the live record — the Federal Register and the eCFR are always controlling. The eCFR title covering Regulation V, Banks and Banking, reflects current text as of July 1, 2026. When any summary, including this one, appears to diverge from the Federal Register or the eCFR, the primary source governs, and a qualified attorney or compliance professional should resolve the discrepancy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this CFPB rule do?

It amends an appendix to Regulation V, the CFPB regulation that implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to reset the maximum amount a consumer reporting agency may charge a consumer for a file disclosure under FCRA section 609. The rule is cited as 89 FR 94599, and it sets that ceiling specifically for the 2025 calendar year.

When does the rule take effect?

The rule is effective January 1, 2025. It was published November 29, 2024 in the Federal Register, cited as 89 FR 94599. Both dates come from that notice.

Which CFR part does the rule amend?

The rule amends an appendix to Regulation V, codified at 12 CFR Part 1022, according to the Federal Register notice. Current regulatory text for that part is available through the eCFR.

Does this rule apply to financial services firms directly?

It depends on whether the firm, or an affiliate, meets the definition of a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA. If so, the recalculated ceiling binds it directly. If not, a financial firm can still be affected indirectly, through vendor contracts, consumer scripts, or dispute-response materials that reference what a reporting agency may charge — language that needs to match the figure set in 89 FR 94599 rather than a prior year's notice.

What is the new maximum charge amount?

This guide does not restate that figure independently. The Federal Register notice at 89 FR 94599 is the authoritative source for the specific dollar ceiling adopted for the 2025 calendar year, and firms should read the notice directly rather than rely on a secondhand number repeated in a summary.

How often does this figure change?

According to the rule's own abstract, the Bureau is required to calculate this ceiling annually, so this notice is not a one-time change. Consumer reporting agencies and the financial firms that track them should expect a new recalculation each year and plan to reconcile their materials on that cadence rather than treat any single figure as permanent.

Related guidance

For adjacent consumer-disclosure obligations financial firms are tracking this cycle, see our guides on Truth in Lending Act compliance for financial services firms, consumer leasing disclosure requirements, and extended compliance dates for financial services disclosures.

Disclaimer

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Regulatory obligations turn on facts specific to each institution, and the law can change. Before acting on anything described here, consult a qualified attorney or tax advisor who can evaluate your particular circumstances.

Every date, citation, RIN, CFR reference, and figure in this post is copied verbatim from the Federal Register and eCFR as of the snapshot date. Nothing is estimated, modeled, or extrapolated. This is not legal or tax advice.

Last reviewed: July 5, 2026.

Source: U.S. Federal Register (89 FR 94599); current text via eCFR, 12 CFR Part 1022.