The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it expects to issue proposed rules in January 2019 that will reconsider its rule regarding Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans and address the rule's compliance date. In its public statement, the Bureau said it will make final decisions regarding the scope of the proposal closer to the issuance of the proposed rules. However, it said it is currently planning to propose revisiting only the ability-to-repay provisions and not the payments provisions, in significant part because the ability-to-repay provisions have much greater consequences for both consumers and industry than the payment provisions.
Banking groups seek compliance date extension. Prior to the release of the Bureau’s statement, the Consumer Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association sent a letter to CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney requesting that the Bureau immediately extend the compliance date of its payday lending rule. The rule was adopted in October 2017. The current compliance date of the rule is Aug. 19, 2019. However, the letter notes, under its most recent unified agenda, the Bureau announced an intention to reopen the rule in January 2019, only seven months prior to the compliance date. "Given the significant unintended consequences of the rule," the letter states, "it is important that institutions do not expend resources unnecessarily implementing extensive operational and policy changes to comply with a rule that the Bureau may modify."
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