• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, December 8, 2024

Google filed a lawsuit on Friday to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from placing its payment arm under federal supervision that would subject to the same inspections as the ones it conducts with major banks and other financial institutions for potential violations of the law.

The app was only placed on such supervision after determining that it meets the legal requirements to do so.

The CFPB said the Google Pay app -- as well as its peer-to-peer (P2P) payment service, which was discontinued in the U.S. earlier this year -- accused Google of “reasonable cause to determine that it has engaged in conduct that poses risks to consumers” and that is "does not constitute a finding" it has done anything wrong, but rather that it does indicate the company poses “risks to consumers.” Reuters initially reported the lawsuit. 

The CFPB tied the risks to Google's handling of what it called "erroneous" transactions and fraud prevention.

Customer complaints accuse Google of not adequately investigating erroneous transfers, or adequately explaining the findings of its investigations into the issues.

The complaints also suggest Google did not do enough to prevent fraud. 

Google claims that the designation is unwarranted, given its decision to discontinue the Google Pay App and P2P payment platform. That argument is not persuasive for the following independent reasons. It states past conduct, reasonable cause that it is engaging, or has engaged consumers.

Google's move follows earlier reports that the CFPB had been negotiating with Google for months.

The Order by the Bureau does not require any immediate action by Google and will notify the company if needs reports or forms or plans to contact an examination.