The CFPB’s Spring 2017 rulemaking agenda has been published as part of the Spring 2017 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.  The preamble indicates that the information in the agenda is current as of April 1, 2017.  Accordingly, the agenda does not reflect the issuance of the CFPB’s final arbitration rule on July 10 or other rulemaking actions taken since April 1 such as the proposed changes to the CFPB’s prepaid account rule and various recent mortgage-related developments.  In addition, the agenda and timetables are likely to be significantly impacted should Director Cordray leave the CFPB this fall to run for Ohio governor as has been widely speculated.

The agenda sets the following timetables for key rulemaking initiatives:

Payday, title, and deposit advance loans.  The CFPB released its proposed rule on payday, title, and high-cost installment loans in June 2016 and the comment period ended on October 22, 2016.  The Spring 2017 agenda gives a June 2017 date for completing the initial review of comments (which the CFPB states in the preamble numbered more than one million) but does not give an estimated date for a final rule.  There has been considerable speculation that a final rule will be issued by the end of next month.

Debt collection.  In November 2013, the CFPB issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning debt collection.  In July 2016, it issued an outline of the proposals it is considering in anticipation of convening a SBREFA panel.  The coverage of the CFPB’s SBREFA proposals was limited to “debt collectors” that are subject to the FDCPA.  When it issued the proposals, the CFPB indicated that it expected to convene a second SBREFA panel in the “next several months” to address a separate rulemaking for creditors and others engaged in debt collection not covered by the proposals.  However, Director Cordray announced last month that the CFPB has decided to proceed first with a proposed rule on disclosures and treatment of consumers by debt collectors and thereafter write a market-wide rule in which it will consolidate  the issues of “right consumer, right amount” into a separate rule that will cover first- and third-party collections.

In the Spring 2017 agenda, the CFPB gives a September 2017 date for a proposed rule.  Presumably, that date is for a proposal that will deal with disclosures and treatment of consumers by debt collectors.  The new agenda gives no estimated dates for the convening of a second SBREFA panel or a proposed second rule.  In the preamble to the new agenda, the CFPB states only that it “has now decided to issue a proposed rule later in 2017 concerning FDCPA collectors’ communications practices and consumer disclosures.  The Bureau intends to follow up separately at a later time about concerns regarding information flows between creditors and FDCPA collectors and about potential rules to govern creditors that collect their own debts.”

Larger participants.  The CFPB states in the Spring 2017 agenda that it “expects to conduct a rulemaking to define larger participants in the markets for consumer installment loans and vehicle title loans for purposes of supervision.”  It also repeats the statement made in previous agendas that the CFPB is “also considering whether rules to require registration of these or other non-depository lenders would facilitate supervision, as has been suggested to the Bureau by both consumer advocates and industry groups.”  (Pursuant to Dodd-Frank Section 1022, the CFPB is authorized to “prescribe rules regarding registration requirements applicable to a covered person, other than an insured depository institution, insured credit union, or related person.”)  The new agenda estimates a June 2017 date for prerule activities and a September 2017 date for a proposed rule.

Overdrafts.  The CFPB issued a June 2013 white paper and a July 2014 report on checking account overdraft services.  In the Spring 2017 agenda, as it did in its Fall 2015 agenda and Fall and Spring 2016 agendas, the CFPB states that it “is continuing to engage in additional research and has begun consumer testing initiatives related to the opt-in process.”  Although the Fall 2016 agenda estimated a January 2017 date for further prerule activities, the new agenda moves that date to June 2017.  As we have previously noted, the extended timeline may reflect that the CFPB feels less urgency to promulgate a rule prohibiting the use of a high-to-low dollar amount order to process electronic debits because most of the banks subject to its supervisory jurisdiction have already changed their processing order.

Small business lending data.  Dodd-Frank Section 1071 amended the ECOA to require financial institutions to collect and maintain certain data in connection with credit applications made by women- or minority-owned businesses and small businesses.  Such data includes the race, sex, and ethnicity of the principal owners of the business.  The new agenda estimates a June 2017 date for prerule activities.  The CFPB repeats the statement made in the Fall 2016 agenda that it “is focusing on outreach and research to develop its understanding of the players, products, and practices in business lending markets and of the potential ways to implement section 1071.  The CFPB then expects to begin developing proposed regulations concerning the data to be collected and determining the appropriate procedures and privacy protections needed for information-gathering and public disclosure under this section.”

Mortgage rules.  Earlier this month, the CFPB issued a proposed rule dealing with a lender’s use of a Closing Disclosure to determine if an estimated charge was disclosed in good faith.  The Spring 2017 agenda gives a March 2018 estimated date for issuance of a final rule.  This past March, the CFPB issued a proposal to amend Regulation B requirements relating to the collection of consumer ethnicity and race information to resolve the differences between Regulation B and revised Regulation C.  The Spring 2017 agenda gives an October 2017 estimated date for a final rule.