Five new regulatory activities will be taken on by the federal consumer financial protection bureau through the rest of this year, and into the spring of 2021, the agency said Friday.
In addition, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has added two items to its long-term regulatory agency, it said.
In releasing its regulatory agenda for the second half of the year, the bureau also outlined new items coming down the road, which include:
- In addition to completing and publishing its Oct. 30, 2020 final rule on debt collection, CFPB is also testing time-barred debt disclosures that were not the focus of the May 2019 proposal. “In early 2020, after completing the testing, the Bureau published a supplemental NPRM (notice of proposed rulemaking) related to time-barred debt disclosures. The Bureau expects to issue a final rule in December 2020 addressing, among other things, disclosures related to the validation notice and time-barred debt,” the agency said.
- Continuing a rulemaking to address the anticipated expiration of the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) index, which authorities in the United Kingdom have stated they cannot guarantee the publication of beyond the end of 2021. “The Bureau’s work is designed to facilitate compliance by open-end and closed-end creditors with Regulation Z as they transition away from LIBOR,” CFPB said. The bureau said it issued a NPRM on the issue in June 2020. However, on Nov. 30, UK authorities said they are considering extending the availability of US dollar LIBOR for legacy loan contracts until June 2023 instead of the end of 2021. “In light of this development, the Bureau anticipates publishing the final rulemaking on the LIBOR transition later than the January 2021 target identified in the Unified Agenda,” the agency said.
- Participating in interagency rulemaking processes on appraisals with the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). “These amendments require implementing regulations for quality control standards for automated valuation models (AVMs),” the bureau said.
- Anticipates issuing an NPRM this spring to consider possible amendments to the Bureau’s mortgage servicing rules to address actions required of servicers working with borrowers affected by natural disasters or other emergencies.
- Anticipates publishing two NPRMs in early 2021 concerning possible revisions to the 2015 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). One of these, CFPB said, will follow an advance NPRM in May 2019 concerning certain data points that are required to be reported under the HMDA rule and coverage of certain business or commercial purpose loans, addressing concerns about regulatory burden. The second will address the public disclosure of HMDA data in light of consumer privacy interests “so that stakeholders can concurrently consider and comment on the collection and reporting of data points and public disclosure of those data points.” The bureau said the latter NPRM will follow up on its 2018 final policy guidance regarding disclosure of the HMDA data.
On the long-term projects, the bureau said it:
- is adding an entry related to its TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosures (TRID) rule.
- has begun research that focuses on providing information to consumers about the costs associated with payday loans. “The results of the qualitative testing will inform the Bureau in deciding whether and how to move forward with quantitative testing that might support possible future rulemaking or other actions related to payday loan disclosures,” the bureau said.