WASHINGTON—CFPB Director Richard Cordray will deliver his semi-annual report to the Banking Committee Thursday, and both NAFCU and CUNA will be closely watching.
Cordray delivered his semi-annual report last month in front of the House Financial Services Committee, during which he stated that the hold harmless period for the bureau’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act integrated disclosure rule (TRID) would remain open-ended due to unforeseen information technology problems. He also fielded questions from lawmakers about CFPB’s regulatory plans for payday lending and prepaid products, and how CFPB distributes funds recovered through its enforcement actions.
During that hearing, Cordray pushed back against the suggestion by Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) that the Bureau use its Dodd-Frank Act authority to exempt credit unions from certain rulemakings. Stivers and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), in a letter signed by a bipartisan group of 329 House members, urged that the Bureau expand the exemption.
NAFCU said it continues to urge the CFPB to do more to respond to the regulatory burden on credit unions, and it maintains that Congress gave the Bureau that authority under Dodd-Frank.
CUNA hopes that members of the Committee will continue to pursue the line of questioning that members of the HFSC pursued last month, dealing with the issue of whether the CFPB has the authority to exempt classes of entities, like credit unions and small banks, from its rulemaking.
“We expect this hearing will be an opportunity to further advance our arguments that the CFPB has much broader clearer exception authority than it has used to date, and that they should use their authority to tailor regulations toward the abusers,” said CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan.
Both NAFCU and CUNA have shared concerns that Cordray does not fully understand the issues the trade associations and credit unions have brought to him about regulatory burdens stemming from the Bureau’s rulemakings. During CUNA’s Governmental Affairs Conference in February, Cordray first thanked CUs for not being responsible for contributing to the banking practices that led to the Great Recession, but then added that he felt credit unions should fall under the Bureau’s rulemaking.