Compliance Blog

Written by Brandy Bruyere, Regulatory Compliance Counsel

Proposed Suspension of Credit Card Agreement Submissions. On February 24^th, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a proposal to temporarily suspend the Truth in Lending Act’s (TILA) requirement that credit unions submit credit card agreements to the CFPB on a quarterly basis. See 12 C.F.R. 1026.58(c). Under this rule, credit unions must provide the CFPB with their credit card agreements every quarter unless the card agreement continues to be offered and has not been amended. Keep in mind that the rule contains exceptions for certain private label cards and those credit unions with fewer than 10,000 open credit card accounts, and the proposal would not impact these exceptions.

The CFPB’s current process for enforcing this rule requires credit unions to submit card agreements to the CFPB by email, which can be “cumbersome” and make it difficult for a credit union to track its prior submissions. CFPB staff then “manually review, catalog, and upload new or revised agreements” to the bureau’s website which can take several months. The proposal would suspend the reporting requirements under section 1026.58(c) until April 30, 2016, when credit unions would have to submit agreements from the first quarter of 2016. During the suspension, the CFPB plans to work on “develop[ing] a more streamlined and automated electronic submission system.”

The CFPB intends to create and test a new platform that would be faster and easier for credit unions to use for submissions as well as improve the bureau staff’s own management of the sizeable workload that is created by this rule. The CFPB expects an improved process would improve the bureau’s ability to keep its database updated and accurate. In the interim, the CFPB would collect card agreements from large financial institutions’ public disclosures made in accordance with 12 C.F.R. 1026.58(d) and upload these agreements to its own public database.

However, this proposal would not impact the rule’s requirements for a credit union to post its credit card agreements publically on the credit union’s website. NAFCU plans to submit comments supporting the suspension of this rule, and would like to hear from our members regarding any issues or concerns with the current submission process. Comments are due to the CFPB by March 13^th, so please share your experiences by contacting Alicia Nealon, NAFCU Director of Regulatory Affairs, at anealon@nafcu.org.

NCUA Field of Membership (FOM) Webinar. On Wednesday, March 25^th at 2 PM, NCUA will host a free webinar on “Successful Strategies for Field-of-Membership Expansion.”  Topics will include using data to maximize membership growth, business plan templates to assist with applying for FOM expansion, and a review of NCUA’s FOM internet application. A federal credit union will also participate and share its experiences with FOM expansion. To participate in this webinar, register here.