Compliance Blog

Written by Steve Van Beek

Dodd-Frank transferred rulemaking authority to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for the "enumerated consumer laws."  Section 1002 of Dodd-Frank defines these "enumerated consumer laws" in paragraph twelve.  Paragraph twelve lists the underlying laws, such as "the Truth in Lending Act," "the Truth in Savings Act" or "the Equal Credit Opportunity Act."  However, Section 1063(i) of Dodd-Frank also required the CFPB to "identify the rules and orders that will be enforced by the [CFPB]" and "publish a list of such rules and orders in the Federal Register."

On Tuesday, the CFPB published that list in the Federal Register.  The lists details which regulations will fall under the CFPB's authority.  Unlike the underlying laws, the regulations can be changed by the CFPB without Congressional approval.  To change a regulation, the CFPB would need to follow normal notice and comment rulemaking.  

The regulations listed come from all the main federal banking agencies, including NCUA, as well as the FTC and HUD.  Credit unions under $10 billion in assets will still be examined by NCUA on these regulations but the CFPB will be the new agency with the new fancy pen.

This new list will help credit unions understand where to look for new changes to existing regulations.  For example, Regulation C (HMDA), Regulation E and Regulation V (risk-based pricing notices) will be subject to interpretation by the CFPB rather than the Federal Reserve after July 21, 2011.  Similarly, Regulation Z and RESPA both transfer over to the CFPB.

The CFPB put this list out for public comment for 30 days.  A key to remember is this list does not change any substantive requirements of the regulations.  Rather, these regulations will be under the CFPB's authority after the transfer date.  Credit unions of all asset sizes will need to focus on the CFPB's rulemaking process to stay up-to-date on new compliance challenges.