Compliance Blog

Happy Monday, Compliance Friends! I hope everyone had a great weekend and I hope that those who attended NAFCU’s 2023 Regulatory Compliance & BSA Seminar in Savannah, Georgia last week also had a great time.

The topic of today’s blog is about submitting credit card agreements to the CFPB. I have received a few questions about this subject in the last few weeks, so I figured it’d be a good idea to provide a little refresher.

Section 1026.58 of Regulation Z requires a credit union to submit the credit card agreements it offers to the CFPB on a quarterly basis. Additionally, credit unions are required to submit the information through the CFPB’s Collect website.

So, what credit card agreements are credit unions required to submit? Section 1026.58(c)(1) provides the following:

“(c) Submission of agreements to Bureau —

(1) Quarterly submissions. A card issuer must make quarterly submissions to the Bureau, in the form and manner specified by the Bureau. Quarterly submissions must be sent to the Bureau no later than the first business day on or after January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31 of each year. Each submission must contain:

(i) Identifying information about the card issuer and the agreements submitted, including the issuer's name, address, and identifying number (such as an RSSD ID number or tax identification number);

(ii) The credit card agreements that the card issuer offered to the public as of the last business day of the preceding calendar quarter that the card issuer has not previously submitted to the Bureau;

(iii) Any credit card agreement previously submitted to the Bureau that was amended during the preceding calendar quarter and that the card issuer offered to the public as of the last business day of the preceding calendar quarter, as described in § 1026.58(c)(3); and

(iv) Notification regarding any credit card agreement previously submitted to the Bureau that the issuer is withdrawing, as described in § 1026.58(c)(4), (c)(5), (c)(6), and (c)(7).” (Emphasis added).

Based on the above, the rule requires credit card agreements that were “offered to the public as of the last business day of the preceding calendar quarter that the card issuer has not previously submitted to the Bureau” to be included in the quarterly submission. Additionally, it requires credit card agreements that were “previously submitted to the Bureau” but that have been amended “during the preceding calendar quarter and that the card issuer offered to the public as of the last business day of the preceding calendar quarter”. Furthermore, credit unions are required to provide “notification regarding any credit card agreement previously submitted” that the credit union is withdrawing.  

The CFPB’s FAQs regarding credit card agreement submissions are another helpful resource to review and reiterate the above points, stating “…each card issuer [is required] to make quarterly submissions of its consumer credit card agreements to the Bureau when the card issuer (1) offers a new credit card agreement, (2) amends a credit card agreement, and (3) withdraws a credit card agreement.” (Emphasis added). According to the CFPB, a credit card agreement is considered “withdrawn” if the agreement has been previously submitted to the Bureau but is no longer offered to the public (i.e., the credit union “no longer solicits or accepts applications for accounts that would be subject to that agreement”).

Additionally, regarding submission deadlines, the CFPB provides that:

“Quarterly submissions to the Bureau must be made using Collect, the Bureau’s website used for submitting agreements, no later than the first business day on or after the following deadlines:

•   January 31 (deadline applies to agreements first offered, amended, or withdrawn between October 1 and December 31);
•   April 30 (deadline applies to agreements first offered, amended, or withdrawn between January 1 and March 31);
•   July 31 (deadline applies to agreements first offered, amended, or withdrawn between April 1 and June 30); and
•   October 31 (deadline applies to agreements first offered, amended, or withdrawn between July 1 and September 30).”

As such, the next upcoming deadline is October 31^st (which “applies to agreements first offered, amended, or withdrawn between July 1 and September 30”).

I also wanted to briefly note that there are a few exceptions to the rule which your credit union may want to review. They are located in section 1026.58(c)(5)-(7) and include the de minimis exception, the private label credit card exception, and the product testing exception.

For more information, the CFPB states that questions about submitting can be sent to Collect_Support@cfpb.gov. 

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