The CFPB announced its Spring 2018 rulemaking agenda on May 10, 2018.  The agenda sets forth the regulatory activities the Bureau expects to consider during the next year, and the expected dates of action.  There are some notable entries and omissions that I'd like to highlight for you in this post.   

HMDA “Reconsideration” Proposed Rule.  The agenda has an entry for the HMDA “reconsideration” rule that the CFPB announced in December 2017.  In that announcement, the CFPB stated that it planned to “reconsider” aspects of the HMDA rule, including the scope of the rule and the rule’s discretionary data points.  It is good news to see this rule on the agenda, but note that the proposed rule isn’t expected until January 2019.  It would seem unlikely the CFPB could finalize any amendments before the new data will need to be reported in 2019.  This means that lenders should be prepared to fully comply with the new HMDA rule and ensure the data they submit is accurate. 

Business Loan Data Collection Rule.   The agenda retains an entry for a rulemaking to implement Dodd-Frank Act section 1071, which added section 1691c–2 to ECOA requiring the CFPB to issue rules creating a data collection and reporting requirement for small, women-owned, and minority-owned business loans, similar to HMDA.  The agenda lists this entry with “prerule activities” scheduled for March 2019, which may mean a small business review panel under SBREFA.  Note that the CFPB issued a Request for Information for this rulemaking in May 2017.  The comment period closed in September 2017.  It is noteworthy that the CFPB is continuing to work on this rulemaking, which could create a substantial new regulatory burden. 

Larger Participant Rule for Personal Loans.   The CFPB had been working on a rulemaking to give itself supervisory authority over larger participants in the consumer installment and vehicle title loan markets, using authority under the Dodd-Frank Act.  The previous Fall 2017 agenda had this rulemaking slated for a proposed rule this May 2018.  But this most recent Spring 2018 agenda has not only taken this rule off the back burner, but taken it off the stove entirely, placing it on an “inactive list.”  This is a win for fintech and other unsecured lenders, such as marketplace lenders, because CFPB supervision would have exposed them to potentially far greater compliance liability and costs, e.g., under TILA and fair lending.  Still, we are hearing ever more about aggressive state regulators trying to fill in where any CFPB gaps arise.

You can find the CFPB’s agenda here: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/spring-2018-rulemaking-agenda/.

There are other interesting entries and omissions on the CFPB’s new agenda.  Let us know if you’d like to discuss.