usc 12 § 5533

Consumer rights to access information (BANKS AND BANKING (12 U.S.C.))

In Force
Verified 9/13/2026 · Next check 10/13/2026
effective 9/13/2026FederalAffordable Housing Programs

Operative Text

usc 12 § 5533
Subject to rules prescribed by the Bureau, a covered person shall make available to a consumer, upon request, information in the control or possession of the covered person concerning the consumer financial product or service that the consumer obtained from such covered person, including information relating to any transaction, series of transactions, or to the account including costs, charges and usage data. The information shall be made available in an electronic form usable by consumers.

A covered person may not be required by this section to make available to the consumer—

any confidential commercial information, including an algorithm used to derive credit scores or other risk scores or predictors;

any information collected by the covered person for the purpose of preventing fraud or money laundering, or detecting, or making any report regarding other unlawful or potentially unlawful conduct;

any information required to be kept confidential by any other provision of law; or

any information that the covered person cannot retrieve in the ordinary course of its business with respect to that information.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to impose any duty on a covered person to maintain or keep any information about a consumer.

The Bureau, by rule, shall prescribe standards applicable to covered persons to promote the development and use of standardized formats for information, including through the use of machine readable files, to be made available to consumers under this section.

The Bureau shall, when prescribing any rule under this section, consult with the Federal banking agencies and the Federal Trade Commission to ensure, to the extent appropriate, that the rules—

impose substantively similar requirements on covered persons;

take into account conditions under which covered persons do business both in the United States and in other countries; and

do not require or promote the use of any particular technology in order to develop systems for compliance.
Source: Legislative text reproduced verbatim
Plain English

Under 12 U.S.C. § 5533, financial service providers covered by this rule must give consumers access to their own account data—including transaction history, costs, charges, and usage information—when a consumer asks for it, and that data must be delivered in an electronic format consumers can actually use. However, the rule carves out certain categories of information that providers are not required to share, such as proprietary algorithms, fraud-prevention data, legally confidential information, and records that cannot be retrieved through ordinary business operations. The provision also clarifies that it does not force covered entities to collect or retain any particular consumer data in the first place, and it directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to develop standardized, technology-neutral data formats to support these access rights.

Written by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6 · Reviewed on September 13, 2026

Plain English — not legal advice.

For Property Managers

Although 12 U.S.C. § 5533 is primarily directed at financial service providers rather than traditional landlords, property managers who offer covered consumer financial products or services—such as certain rent-payment platforms or financing arrangements—should be aware of its requirements. A compliant operator under this provision generally maintains processes for responding to consumer data requests, delivers responsive records electronically in a usable format, and documents which categories of information fall within the recognized exemptions (e.g., fraud-detection data or proprietary scoring models). Operators also typically monitor CFPB rulemaking under § 5533 to ensure their data systems align with any standardized formats the Bureau prescribes.

General guidance for property managers — not legal advice for your specific situation. Consult an attorney for advice on your case.

For Tenants

Under 12 U.S.C. § 5533, if you obtained a financial product or service from a covered provider, you have a right to request your own account data—such as transaction records, fees, and usage history—and to receive it in an electronic format you can use. If a provider refuses or fails to respond to a data access request, general enforcement paths include filing a complaint with the CFPB, which oversees compliance with § 5533, or reaching out to a tenant-rights or consumer-rights organization for guidance on next steps. Because certain exemptions apply and CFPB rules continue to evolve under this section, consulting a consumer law resource or legal aid organization can help clarify what information a specific provider is actually required to produce.

General guidance for tenants — not legal advice for your specific situation. Consult a tenant-rights organization or attorney for advice on your case.

Generated September 13, 2026 — auto-generated, not yet human-reviewed. See /transparency for methodology.

Effective Timeline

Current
Sep 13, 2026
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Related Rules

§ 1437
Declaration of policy and public housing agency organization
§ 5.100
§ 5.100 Definitions.
§ 5.107
§ 5.107 Audit requirements for non-profit organizations.

Source Information

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