Compliance Blog

Written by JiJi Bahhur, Director of Regulatory Compliance

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) have been busy bees this week with announcements and issuances that credit union professionals will definitely want to know and hear more about.

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Delayed Implementation of TILA/RESPA.  On Wednesday, Director Richard Cordray of the CFPB announced that the bureau will be issuing a proposed amendment to delay the implementation deadline for the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (TILA/RESPA) Integrated Mortgage Disclosure requirements until October 1.  This delay would provide credit unions two more months to comply with the rules, which are currently scheduled to go into effect on August 1, 2015.

“The CFPB will be issuing a proposed amendment to delay the effective date of the Know Before You Owe rule until October 1, 2015,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a prepared statement. “We made this decision to correct an administrative error that we just discovered in meeting the requirements under federal law, which would have delayed the effective date of the rule by two weeks.”

While this delay is a step in the right direction, and one that NAFCU welcomes, a two-month delay may still not be enough to meet credit unions’ needs. Credit unions have been gearing up and working diligently with vendors to ensure timely compliance with the TILA/RESPA Integrated Mortgage Disclosure rule, but there are still a number of ambiguities in the rule that need to be addressed by the CFPB. 

At this point, it’s hard to tell what this will mean or how this will affect credit unions, but once the CFPB releases its proposal on delayed implementation of TILA/RESPA, NAFCU will provide greater detail on what it entails on our compliance blog. 

As an aside, what I would love to see the CFPB do between now and the new October 1 effective date is issue an FAQ detailing answers to questions and ambiguities the bureau has been made aware of. 

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NCUA Board Meeting Results. On Thursday, the NCUA Board held an open meeting to discuss the following items, all of which were unanimously approved:

1. Final Interagency Rule, Part 760 of NCUA’s Rules and Regulations, Loans in Areas Having Special Flood Hazards.
2. Board Briefing, Final Interagency Policy Statement Establishing Joint Diversity Assessment Standards.
3. Final IRPS 13-1, Minority Depository Institution Preservation Program.
4. Notice and Request for Comment, Regulatory Review in Accordance with the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act.
5. Federal Credit Union Loan Interest Rate Ceiling.
6. Proposed Rule, Part 723 of NCUA’s Rules and Regulations, Member Business Lending.

While it would bring me great pleasure to go into all the details surrounding each of these agenda items, I’ll save you from having to read a 5-page blog on a Friday morning.  That being said, we plan to cover some of these items in detail on the blog next week.  If you would like to get a head start on your reading, take a look at NCUA’s Board Action Bulletin, available here.