Compliance Blog

Written by JiJi Bahhur, Regulatory Compliance Counsel

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued changes to several FCRA forms – which are implemented in Regulation V.  The following forms were affected by these changes:

• Appendix I – Summary of Consumer Identity Theft Rights
• Appendix K – Summary of Consumer Rights
• Appendix M – Notice of Furnisher Responsibilities
• Appendix N – Notice of User Responsibilities.

Of particular importance to credit unions is the “Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act” form (Summary of Consumer Rights), which can be found in Appendix K of the final rule.  Changes to this form included removing the reference to the Federal Trade Commission and replacing it with CFPB instead; updating the addresses for contacting the Assistant General Counsel for Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings and the Surface Transportation Board; and correction of typographical errors in the Spanish language translation at the top of Appendix K. 

Credit unions that use credit reports as part of the hiring, promoting, or firing process (i.e., for an employment purpose) should be cognizant of these changes, as this form must go to employees, or applicants, after the credit union has acquired a consumer report, but before it has taken adverse action based on that report.  Credit unions that use consumer reports for employment purposes should be aware of the requirements, and should have a detailed policy and procedures to ensure compliance. 

Although the effective date of the form changes was November 14, 2012, it looks like the CFPB is giving some leeway on the timeframe to make the changes.  In the meantime, the old model forms will be construed as being in compliance with the FCRA provisions requiring such forms.  From the rule:

“To mitigate the impact of these changes on users of the model forms in the Bureau’s Appendices I, K, M, and N published December 21, 2011, the Bureau will regard the use of those model forms to constitute compliance with the FCRA provisions requiring such forms and will regard those forms to be substantially similar to the corrected forms published today, until further notice. The Bureau anticipates providing that further, notice along with ample time to allow for the orderly discontinuation of the December 21, 2011 model forms, when it issues a final rule to restate Regulation V in 2013.”

That being said, if your credit union uses these forms, it would be a good idea to start taking steps to update to these new forms.  Additionally, it looks like the CFPB has plans to make additional changes to Regulation V in 2013 – so stay tuned.  

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