Yesterday, the following four CFPB-related bills were passed by the House Financial Services Committee:

  • H.R. 3192, the “Homebuyers Assistance Act”: The bill would provide a hold harmless period for the TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule that is scheduled to go into effect on October 3, 2015.  Although the CFPB recently delayed the effective date of the TRID rule until such date, it declined to adopt a formal hold harmless period, despite industry calls for such a period.  H.R. 3192 provides that the TRID rule may not be enforced against any person until February 1, 2016, and that no suit may be filed against a person for a violation of the TRID rule occurring before such date, so long as the person has made a good faith effort to comply with the rule.  Passed by a vote of 45 to 13, the bill’s bi-partisan support in the Committee likely signals passage by the full House. Prospects in the Senate, however, are less clear.  An existing bill, S. 1711 (which is a companion bill to H.R. 2213), would provide for a TRID rule hold harmless period until January 1, 2016.  The bill was introduced on July 7, 2015 and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, but no further action has been taken.
  • H.R. 1210, the “Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Bill”: The bill would modify the TILA ability to repay provisions by creating a safe harbor for depository institutions without regard to their size for loans that the institution retains in portfolio from origination where any prepayment penalties comply with the phase-out requirements for prepayment penalties on qualified mortgages.  The bill would also create a safe harbor from the TILA anti-steering provision (for which the CFPB has not yet proposed implementing regulations) that prohibits a mortgage originator from steering a consumer from a qualified mortgage for which the consumer is qualified to a mortgage that is not a qualified mortgage.  The conditions for the safe harbor are that the creditor on the loan is a depository institution that has informed the mortgage originator that it intends to retain the loan in portfolio for the life of the loan and the originator informs the consumer that the creditor intends to do so.  The bill also had bi-partisan support in the Committee, passing by a vote of 38 to 18.
  • H.R. 1737, the “Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act”: The bill would nullify the CFPB’s indirect auto finance guidance issued in March 2013 and require the CFPB to provide for a notice and comment period before issuing any new guidance onindirect auto finance.  The bill also includes requirements for the CFPB when proposing and issuing such guidance to (1) make publicly available “all studies, data, methodologies, analyses, and other information” it relied on, (2) consult with the Fed, FTC and DOJ, and (3) conduct a study of the guidance’s impact on consumers and “women-owned, minority-owned, and small businesses.”  The bill passed by a vote of  47 to 10.
  • H.R. 1941, the “Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act”: The bill would establish deadlines within which the banking regulators and CFPB must hold exit interviews after an examination and issue final examination reports.  The bill would also establish an Office of Independent Examination Review from which financial institutions can seek an independent review of a material supervisory determination contained in a final examination report.  The bill passed by a vote of 45 to 13.