CFPB’s Spring 2019 Rulemaking Agenda Sheds Light on Regulatory Priorities

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published its Spring 2019 rulemaking agenda on May 22, 2019. The agenda mentioned significant regulatory matters that the CFPB intends to have under consideration from May 1, 2019, to April 30, 2020.

“The Bureau expects to communicate further information about future planning and priorities in the coming months,” the CFPB said. “In the meantime, this Spring 2019 Agenda reflects ongoing rulemaking activities, including initiatives to implement statutory requirements and to address the potential sunset of statutory and regulatory provisions.”

Among the items listed was a new process for collecting small-business lending data and potentially reconsidering the rule that mandated underwriting requirements for certain short-term and balloon payment loans or a compliance postponement for those requirements. Conspicuously not mentioned was compensation standards for loan originators and industry requests to temper the Dodd-Frank Act.

As a continuation of an already proposed rulemaking, the CFPB mentioned addressing, “such issues as communication practices and consumer disclosures in the debt collection market.” Earlier this month, the Bureau released a notice of proposed rulemaking that would establish new rules on debt-collection, primarily for third-party debt collectors.

The CFPB announced that a more comprehensive statement of priorities is expected to be released by the Fall 2019 Agenda.