# Examination — definition

> An examination is a supervisory review conducted by a prudential regulator or the CFPB to assess compliance with federal consumer financial law, obtain information about an entity's activities and compliance systems, and detect risks to consumers and markets.

- Source: https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/examination/
- Publisher: Otto — https://ottoforfirms.com
- Updated: 2026-07-26
- Status: in attorney review. Served noindex and excluded from the sitemap; do not cite as settled.

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**Examination** — An examination is a supervisory review conducted by a prudential regulator or the CFPB to assess compliance with federal consumer financial law, obtain information about an entity's activities and compliance systems, and detect risks to consumers and markets.

For nondepository covered persons — including larger participants in the consumer debt collection market — the authority and purposes are set at 12 U.S.C. § 5514(b)(1). The CFPB's March 2022 debt collection examination procedures organize the work into modules covering the entity's business model; communications; information sharing, privacy, and interactions with consumer reporting agencies; validation notices, disputes, complaints, and ceasing communication; payment processing and account maintenance; ECOA; and litigation practices, administrative wage garnishment, repossession, and time-barred debt. Most collections firms never see a CFPB examiner directly; they experience examination second-hand, as bank clients pass through requests generated by their own supervisory cycle.

## Primary sources

1. [12 U.S.C. § 5514(b)(1); CFPB Debt Collection Examination Procedures (Mar. 2022)](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/compliance/supervision-examinations/debt-collection-examination-procedures/)

## See also

- [Sampling](https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/sampling/)
- [TPRM](https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/tprm/)
- [Consent order](https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/consent-order/)
- [Attestation](https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/attestation/)

## Where this appears

- [Bank Third-Party Risk Management: What Do the Interagency Expectations Mean for a Law Firm Being Supervised?](https://ottoforfirms.com/compliance/vendor-oversight-tprm/)

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