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CFPB symposium on “abusive” standard set for June 25
On June 11, the CFPB announced that its first symposium, regarding the meaning of “abusive acts or practices” under Section 1031 of the Dodd-Frank Act, will be held on June 25. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the CFPB announced a symposia series that will convene to discuss consumer protections in “today’s dynamic financial services marketplace.” The June 25 symposium will be a public forum with two panels of experts discussing unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices (UDAAP). The first panel will be a policy discussion, moderated by Tom Pahl, CFPB’s Policy Associate Director, Research, Markets and Regulation. The second panel will examine how the “abusive” standard has been used in practice in the field and will be moderated by David Bleicken, CFPB Deputy Associate Director, Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending.
In addition to the June 25 symposium, the series will have future events discussing behavioral law and economics, small business loan data collection, disparate impact and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, cost-benefit analysis, and consumer authorized financial data sharing.
Democratic Representatives demand rescission of CFPB’s permanent HMDA threshold proposal
On June 11, House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters and 64 other Democratic House members sent a letter to the CFPB urging rescission of its May proposal to permanently raise the coverage thresholds for collecting and reporting HMDA data and to retire its HMDA Explorer tool. (Covered by InfoBytes here.) In the letter, members argue that recent data “showed widespread discrimination in bank lending” and that redlining continues to be a pervasive problem. They note that HMDA data is an important tool for public officials to understand access to credit in their communities, and that the Bureau’s proposal would exempt “about half of lending institutions from reporting data about closed-end mortgages … [and] sacrifice information that can make a difference in the lives of creditworthy, lower-income consumers.” The members also ask for information regarding the new Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) query tool that is to be used as a replacement for the HMDA Explorer tool and Public Data Platform API that the Bureau plans to retire, as previously covered by InfoBytes here.
Democratic Senators ask CFPB to reconsider debt collection rulemaking
On June 6, twenty six Democratic Senators sent a letter to the CFPB requesting that the Bureau reconsider the recent debt collection rulemaking proposal to “pursue more meaningful reforms that put consumers . . . first.” As previously covered by InfoBytes, in May, the CFPB released its highly anticipated debt collection rulemaking, which regulates debt collection communications and disclosures and addresses related practices by debt collectors. Among other things, the proposed rule would (i) require debt collectors to provide consumers with a validation notice containing specific information regarding the debt; (ii) restrict debt collectors from calling consumers regarding a particular debt more than seven times within a seven-day-period and prohibit telephone contact for seven days after the debt collector has had a conversation with the consumer; (iii) allow for consumers to unsubscribe from various communication channels with debt collectors, including text or email; and (iv) prevent debt collectors from contacting consumers on their workplace email addresses or through public-facing social media platforms.
In the letter, the Senators argue that the proposed rule as currently written “will only exacerbate and increase troubling harassment tactics” by debt collectors. The Senators note that the Bureau received 81,500 consumer debt collection complaints, and the FTC received nearly 458,000 such complaints in 2018, and argue that the proposed rule does not do enough to address the particular abusive practices that those complaints raised. The Senators allege that the proposed rule “permits collectors to overwhelm consumers with intrusive communications” because it allows for unlimited text messages and emails and allows for collectors to call consumers seven times per week, per debt. Additionally, the Senators argue that the proposed rule “could encourage collectors to practice willful ignorance about the status of the debt they collect,” as it only “prohibits filing or threatening to file a lawsuit if the collector ‘knows or should know’ that the debt is not enforceable.” Lastly, the Senators assert that the Bureau should hold attorneys who engage in debt collection to a “higher standard, [they should] not be granted a safe harbor to engage in abusive and deceptive practices.”
Fed tailors state member bank exams to risk
On June 3, the Federal Reserve Board issued supervisory letter SR 19-9 to provide guidance on its enhanced process for determining the scope of safety-and-soundness examinations of community and regional state member banks (SMB). Under the “Bank Exams Tailored to Risk” (BETR) process, the Fed intends to “gauge the risk of a bank’s various activities [and] facilitate[] a more data-driven approach to the risk tailoring of supervisory work.” A SMB’s level of risk within individual risk dimensions—such as credit, liquidity, and operational risk—will be derived from a combination of surveillance metrics and examiner judgment.
Among other things, BETR’s objectives are to (i) apply appropriately streamlined examination work programs to identified low-risk activities, in order to conserve supervisory staff resources and minimize regulatory burden; (ii) direct enhanced supervisory resources and attention to identified high-risk activities; and (iii) implement average intensity examination work programs to moderate-risk activities. Examiners are to tailor examination procedures to the size, complexity, and risk profile of an SMB, with examiners focusing on “developing an appropriate assessment of bank management’s ability to identify, measure, monitor, and control risk.”
OCC extends Dodd-Frank stress test compliance date
On June 4, the OCC extended the deadline for national banks and federal savings associations (FSAs) with consolidated assets between $100 billion and $250 billion to comply with the Dodd-Frank stress test (DFAST) requirements to November 25. In December 2018, the OCC issued a letter noting that prior DFAST exams and OCC supervision have indicated that qualifying banks with consolidated assets within these thresholds have adopted effective stress testing programs and integrated them into their general risk management tools, and as such, “requiring DFAST submissions for these banks in 2019 would provide limited supervisory value.” According to the OCC, the extension is consistent with the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act’s goal of reducing regulatory burden for applicable national banks and FSAs.
CFPB delays underwriting compliance of Payday Rule
On June 6, the CFPB released a final rule to delay the August 19, 2019 compliance date for the mandatory underwriting provisions of the agency’s 2017 final rule covering “Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans” (the Rule). Compliance with these provisions of the Rule is now due by November 19, 2020.
As previously covered by InfoBytes, in February, when the CFPB released two notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) related to certain lending requirements under the Rule—one proposing the delay to the compliance date for mandatory underwriting provisions, and the other proposing to rescind the underwriting portion of the Rule that would make it an unfair and abusive practice for a lender to make covered high-interest rate, short-term loans, or covered longer-term balloon payment loans without reasonably determining that the consumer has the ability to repay—the Bureau emphasized that the NPRM extending the compliance date for mandatory underwriting provisions did not extend the effective date for the Rule’s provisions governing payments.
Notably, on May 30, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas entered an order continuing the stay of the original compliance date for both the underwriting provisions and the payment provisions of the Rule in a payday loan trade group’s litigation challenging the Rule. (Previous InfoBytes coverage on the litigation is available here.) The order requires the parties to file a joint status report no later than August 2.
FCC approves robocall blocking
On June 6, the FCC approved a Declaratory Ruling and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to address unwanted robocalls to consumers. The Declaratory Ruling affirms that voice service providers may block unwanted robocalls “based on reasonable call analytics, as long as their customers are informed and have the opportunity to opt out of the blocking.” Among other things, the Declaratory Ruling clarifies that voice providers (i) may offer call blocking tools to their customers as a default, as opposed to an opt-in basis; and (ii) may offer customers tools that would allow customers to block calls from any number that is not listed in the customer’s contact list or other “white lists.” The FCC notes that a “white list” could be based on a customer’s contact list and would be updated as customers add and remove contacts from their phone. According to reports, the FCC also adopted language that was added to the May proposal, which encourages voice providers to devise a system for addressing complaints made by legitimate companies whose calls to customers are being blocked. The final Declaratory Ruling is effective upon its publication on the FCC’s website.
The FCC also adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) (available in the May proposal) requiring voice providers to implement the “STIR/SHAKEN” caller ID authentication framework—an “industry-developed system to authenticate Caller ID and address unlawful spoofing by confirming that a call actually comes from the number indicated in the Caller ID, or at least that the call entered the US network through a particular voice service provider or gateway.” The FCC asserts that once the “STIR/SHAKEN” is implemented, it would “reduce the effectiveness of illegal spoofing and allow bad actors to be identified more easily.” The deadline for comments in response to the NPRM will be established upon publication in the Federal Register.
CFPB releases TRID FAQs for construction loans
On May 31, the CFPB released FAQs to assist with TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule (TRID) compliance. The two new FAQs relate to the application of TRID to construction loans. Highlights include:
- Most construction-only and construction-permanent loans are covered by TRID as long as such a loan: (i) is made by a creditor as defined in Regulation Z; (ii) is a closed-end, consumer credit transaction; (iii) is secured in full or in part by real property or cooperative unit; (iii) is not a reverse mortgage; and (iv) is not exempt for any reason under Regulation Z.
- There are three special disclosure provisions for construction-only or construction-permanent loans under TRID: (i) Section 1026.17(c)(6) permits a creditor to issue separate or combined disclosures for construction-permanent loans based on whether each phase is treated as a separate transaction; (ii) Appendix D provides methods that may be used for estimating construction phase financing disclosures; and (iii) Section 1026.19(e)(3)(iv)(F) permits creditors, in certain instances involving new construction, to use a revised estimate of a charge for good faith tolerance purposes when settlement will occur more than 60 days after the original Loan Estimate. The Bureau notes that these provisions apply “even if the creditor does not necessarily label the product as construction-only or construction-permanent, so long as the product meets the requirements discussed in each provision.”
U.S., UK establish “Financial Innovation Partnership”
On May 29, the Department of Treasury announced the establishment of a Financial Innovation Partnership (FIP) between the U.S. and the UK. The FIP will focus on expanding bilateral financial services collaborative efforts to study emerging fintech innovation trends and share information and expertise on regulatory practices. Specifically, the FIP will focus on (i) regulatory engagement, including building upon “existing regulatory cooperation by discussing regulatory developments and sharing experiences on technical issues related to innovation in financial services,” and (ii) commercial engagement, such as providing cross-border opportunities for private sector companies to engage with industry associations as well as market participants. The FIP was announced during a meeting of the U.S.-UK Regulatory Working Group, which, a week earlier, held discussions in Washington, D.C. on the outlook for financial regulatory reforms, future priorities, regulatory cooperation, and possible implications of the UK’s exit from the EU on financial stability and cross-border financial regulation.
Federal agencies release host state loan-to-deposit ratios
On May 28, the Federal Reserve Board, the FDIC, and the OCC released the current host state loan-to-deposit ratios for each state or U.S. territory, which the agencies use to determine compliance with Section 109 of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994. Under the Act, banks are prohibited from establishing or acquiring branches outside of their home state for the primary purpose of deposit production. Branches of banks controlled by out-of-state bank holding companies are also subject to the same restriction. Determining compliance with Section 109 requires a comparison of a bank’s estimated statewide loan-to-deposit ratio to the yearly host state loan-to-deposit ratios. If a bank’s statewide ratio is less than one-half of the yearly published host state ratio, an additional review is required by the appropriate agency, which involves a determination of whether a bank is reasonably helping to meet the credit needs of the communities served by the bank’s interstate branches.