By Katalina M. Bianco, J.D.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has provided an outline to its rulemaking agenda for fall 2016, addressing current and developing supervisory initiatives. Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, federal agencies must publish regulatory agendas twice a year. The Unified Agenda "largely mirrors" items described in the past several editions, the bureau said in a post to its blog. The agenda includes rulemaking actions in pre-rule, proposed rule, final rule, long-term, and completed stages.
Know Before You Owe mortgage disclosures. The bureau issued a notice of proposed rulemaking intended to make small clarifications to its Know Before You Owe integrated mortgage disclosures rule. The comment period ended on Oct. 18, 2016, and the CFPB is reviewing comments submitted on the proposal.
HMDA implementation. The bureau also is working to facilitate implementation of the new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements, including follow-up rulemaking "where warranted," the CFPB said in the post. Though certain elements of the rule take effect in January 2017, most new data collection requirements take effect in January 2018.
Larger participants. The CFPB noted that it is "continuing rulemaking activities that will further establish the Bureau’s nonbank supervisory authority by defining larger participants of certain markets for consumer financial products and services." The CFPB said it "expects" its next larger participant rulemaking to focus on the markets for consumer installment loans and vehicle title loans for purposes of supervision.
Arbitration. In May 2016, the CFPB issued a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning the use of arbitration clauses in consumer financial agreements. The comment period for the notice ended in August, and the bureau said it is in the process of reviewing comments.
Payday, auto title, and similar lending products. A notice of proposed rulemaking issued in June 2016 addressed practices related to payday loans, vehicle title loans, and other similar credit products. The CFPB said that the bureau particularly is concerned with consumer "debt traps" stemming from such practices. The comment period for the notice ended on Oct. 7, 2016. The comment period for a related request for information ended on Nov. 7, 2016. Currently, the bureau is in the process of reviewing comments.
Debt collection. According to the post, the CFPB is developing proposed rules intended to regulate debt collection practices. Although the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits debt collectors from engaging in unfair, deceptive, abusive, and other unlawful collection practices, no federal agency had the authority to issue general implementing regulations prior to the creation of the CFPB. The bureau released materials in July 2016 in advance of convening a panel under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act to consult with small businesses that are considered "debt collectors" under the FDCPA. Finally, the CFPB has been analyzing the results of a survey to obtain information from consumers about their experiences with debt collection and said it plans to publish a report on the survey in coming months.
Long-term initiatives. Long-term CFPB initiatives include potential rulemaking to address consumer issues in the markets for student loan servicing and credit reporting. The CFPB said it has been monitoring both markets for trends and developments through its supervisory, enforcement, and research efforts.
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