Latest CFPB Rulemaking Agenda Adds Some New Initiatives, Updates Timelines For Others

CFPB Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

On December 3, the CFPB released its fall 2013 rulemaking agenda, part of the broader government Unified Agenda initially published last week. The CFPB’s latest agenda pushes back the timelines on several key initiatives, but offers relatively few new initiatives. One notable exception is that the CFPB  included planned activities related to a potential rule on overdraft products, which will build off of the CFPB’s overdraft white paper released earlier this year.

The CFPB agenda also indicates that the Bureau plans additional activities related to the mortgage rules issued earlier this year and updated throughout the year. For example, the agenda states the CFPB will consider additional guidance that would facilitate the development of automated underwriting systems for purposes of calculating debt-to-income ratios in connection with qualified mortgage determinations. Also, as expected, the CFPB plans to conduct further analysis to consider possible amendments to the definitions of "rural" and "underserved" for purposes of certain exemptions from the mortgage rules.

With regard to timelines, for example, “prerule activities” related to the eventual HMDA rule have again been delayed, with no public action expected before February 2014. Similarly, a proposed rule related to GPR prepaid cards now is expected no sooner than May 2014. The CFPB also promised to return to its prior efforts to streamline and modernize regulations that it inherited from other agencies, including the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act's annual privacy notice requirements.