Bureau Release Unified Agenda

October 17, 2018

Today, October 17, the Federal banking regulators released its latest (Fall) unified regulatory agenda. The highlights for the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection include:

 

Continuation of Existing Rulemaking

  • The Bureau announced in January 2018 that it intends to engage in a rulemaking to reconsider a 2017 rule titled Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans which has a compliance date in August 2019. The Bureau expects to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by no later than early 2019 that will address reconsideration of the rule on the merits as well as address changes to its compliance date.
  • Prior to the enactment of the EGRRCPA, the Bureau had already put a rulemaking on its Spring 2018 Agenda to reconsider aspects of its 2015 rulemaking to implement Dodd-Frank Act amendments to HMDA, including but not limited to the threshold for collecting and reporting HMDA data with respect to open-end lines of credit. In addition, the Bureau anticipates engaging in notice-and-comment rulemaking to incorporate the EGRRCPA interpretative and procedural rule mentioned above into Regulation C and to further implement ERGGCPA. The Bureau expects to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in Spring 2019 to address some or all of the issues related to these HMDA projects.
  • Finally, the Bureau has continued to engage in research and pre-rulemaking activities regarding the debt collection market, which remains a top source of complaints to the Bureau. The Bureau has also received encouragement from industry and consumer groups to engage in rulemaking to address how to apply the 40-year old Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) to modern collection practices. By March 2019, the Bureau expects to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addressing such issues as communication practices and consumer disclosures.   

 

Future Planning

  • As noted above, the Bureau has a number of work streams underway that could affect planning and prioritization of rulemaking activity, as well as the way in which it conducts rulemakings and related processes. For example, in addition to completing its first three statutorily-mandated assessments of prior "significant" rulemakings (Remittance Rule, 2013 RESPA Mortgage Servicing Rule, and Ability-to-Repay-Qualified Mortgage Rule) by January 2019, the Bureau expects to begin work in 2019 on its assessment of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule.
  • The Bureau is considering future activity with regard to specific areas of consumer financial law of significant public interest. For example, the Bureau announced in May 2018 that it is reexamining the requirements of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) concerning the disparate impact doctrine in light of recent Supreme Court case law and the Congressional disapproval of a prior Bureau bulletin concerning indirect auto lender compliance with ECOA and its implementing regulations. The Bureau is also considering how rulemaking may be helpful to further clarify the meaning of "abusiveness" under the section 1031 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
  • The Bureau expects by no later than the Spring 2019 Agenda to issue a more comprehensive statement of priorities to reflect its ongoing market monitoring and the Bureau's other activities discussed above.    

 

Please note that the issues on the agenda were submitted by the Bureau 3 months ago and priorities may have changed. CBA believes once permanent leadership is installed at the Bureau, future regulatory agendas will be more telling of possible regulatory action.  

 

If you need further information, please email David Pommerehn or call 202-552-6368.