CFPB Mum On Small Dollar Rule in New Regulatory Agenda

On August 24th the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published its semiannual regulatory agenda. The agenda covers a period from May 1, 2017 to April 30, 2018. The purpose of the agenda is to provide notification to the public of the various regulatory matters under consideration by the Bureau over the next year.

Mortgage reporting and disclosure revisions remain an important regulatory effort at the CFPB. Under its authority to “facilitate fair competition among financial service providers,” the agency identified both the rule limiting mandatory arbitration provisions and proposed regulations on small dollar lending. The CFPB issued its arbitration rule back in July, but the rule’s been met with considerable resistance since its issuance.

Since its publication of the arbitration rule last month, the industry’s attention has shifted to the CFPB’s proposed rule on small dollar loans. In its regulatory agenda, the Bureau mentions that it is “carefully considering more than one million comments received in response to the [proposed small dollar rule].” The CFPB provides no timetable in its agenda for the publication or implementation of the rule, although many feel it is imminent.