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CFPB to release ANPR on consumer access to financial records
On July 24, the CFPB announced plans to issue an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on consumer-authorized access to financial records later this year. The future ANPR relates to the February Symposium held by the Bureau covering this subject and Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which deals with consumers’ rights to access information about their financial accounts. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the purpose of this symposium was “to elicit a variety of perspectives on the current and future state of the market for services based on consumer-authorized use of financial data.” The symposium consisted of three panels: (i) the current landscape and benefits and risks of consumer-authorized data access; (ii) market developments; and (iii) considerations for policymakers. Along with the ANPR announcement, the Bureau released a report summarizing the February symposium.
According to the Bureau, the future ANPR will solicit feedback on (i) how the Bureau can effectively and efficiently implement the financial access rights described in Section 1033 of Dodd-Frank; (ii) the possible scope of data that might be subject to protected access; and (iii) how the Bureau may be able to solve the regulatory uncertainty of Section 1033’s interaction with other statutes, such as the FCRA.
CFPB seeks comments on PACE financing
On March 4, the CFPB issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing, which often takes the form of loans to facilitate residential solar energy and other home improvement projects. The ANPR was issued in response to Section 307 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which amended TILA to mandate the CFPB propose regulations related to PACE financing. Specifically, the regulations are required to carry out the purposes of TILA’s ability-to-repay requirements and apply TILA’s general civil liability provisions for violations, accounting for the “unique nature” of the transaction. In addition to seeking feedback on the unique features of PACE financing and the general implications of regulating PACE financing under TILA, the ANPR also requests commenters (i) provide samples of any written materials used in PACE financing transactions; (ii) describe the current standards and practices in PACE financing origination, including application information obtained and underwriting standards used; and (iii) identify parties in a PACE financing transaction to whom civil liabilities may apply, including information related to any rescission rights and loss mitigation programs available upon borrower default. Comments must be submitted within 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.