Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is requesting the revision of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval for an existing information collection titled ``Making Ends Meet Survey'' approved under OMB Control Number 3170-0080.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is issuing its eleventh Fair Lending Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Fair Lending Report) to Congress. The CFPB is committed to ensuring fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory access to credit for both individuals and communities. This report describes our fair lending activities in supervision and enforcement; guidance and rulemaking; interagency coordination; and outreach and education for calendar year 2022.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) requests the extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval of an existing information collection titled ``Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z)'' approved under OMB Number 3170-0015.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) is issuing its twenty-nineth edition of Supervisory Highlights.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) is conducting a review of Regulation Z's Mortgage Loan Originator Rules (Loan Originator Rules) pursuant to section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Regulation Z, which implements the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), among other things, imposes certain requirements on: loan originator compensation; qualification of, and registration or licensing of, loan originators; compliance procedures for depository institutions; mandatory arbitration; and the financing of single premium credit insurance. As part of this review, the Bureau is seeking comment on the economic impact of the Loan Originator Rules on small entities. These comments may assist the Bureau in determining whether the Loan Originator Rules should be continued without change or amended or rescinded to minimize any significant economic impact of the rules upon a substantial number of such small entities, consistent with the stated objectives of applicable Federal statutes.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau), after consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat of the General Services Administration, will renew the Community Bank Advisory Council (the committee or the CBAC) effective on March 15, 2023. The CBAC was established to consult with the Bureau in the exercise of its functions under the Federal consumer financial laws as they pertain to community banks with total assets of $10 billion or less.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau), after consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat of the General Services Administration, will renew the Academic Research Council (the committee or the ARC) effective on March 15, 2023. The ARC will provide the Bureau with advice about its strategic research planning process and research agenda, including views on the research that the Bureau should conduct relating to consumer financial products or services, consumer behavior, cost-benefit analysis, or other topics to enable the agency to further its statutory purposes and objectives; provide the Office of Research with technical advice and feedback on research methodologies, data collection strategies, and methods of analysis, including methodologies and strategies for quantifying the costs and benefits of regulatory actions; and serve as peer reviewers of policy- determinative research conducted by the Bureau.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) requests the extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval of an existing information collection titled ``Evaluation of Financial Empowerment Training Program'' approved under OMB Number 3170-0067.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is issuing this Advisory Opinion to address the applicability of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) section 8 to operators of certain digital technology platforms that enable consumers to comparison shop for mortgages and other real estate settlement services, including platforms that generate potential leads for the platform participants through consumers' interaction with the platform (Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platforms). Generally, this Advisory Opinion describes how an operator of a Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platform violates RESPA section 8 if the platform provides enhanced placement or otherwise steers consumers to platform participants based on compensation the platform operator receives from those participants rather than based on neutral criteria. More specifically, this Advisory Opinion states that an operator of a Digital Mortgage Comparison- Shopping Platform receives a prohibited referral fee in violation of RESPA section 8 when: the Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platform non-neutrally uses or presents information about one or more settlement service providers participating on the platform; that non-neutral use or presentation of information has the effect of steering the consumer to use, or otherwise affirmatively influences the selection of, those settlement service providers, thus constituting referral activity; and the operator receives a payment or other thing of value that is, at least in part, for that referral activity. Furthermore, if an operator of a Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platform receives a higher fee for including one settlement service provider compared to what it receives for including other settlement service providers participating on the same platform, that can be evidence of an illegal referral fee arrangement absent other facts indicating that the payment is not for enhanced placement or other form of steering.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) is requesting to extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval for an existing information collection titled ``Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Regulation X)'' approved under OMB Control Number 3170- 0016.

The Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA) requires the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) to monitor markets for consumer financial products and services for risks to consumers in order to support the various statutory functions of the CFPB, and to conduct a risk-based nonbank supervision program for the purpose of assessing compliance with Federal consumer financial law (among other purposes). Pursuant to these authorities, the CFPB is proposing a rule to require that nonbanks subject to its supervisory authority, with limited exceptions, register each year in a nonbank registration system established by the CFPB information about their use of certain terms and conditions in form contracts for consumer financial products and services that pose risks to consumers. In particular, these nonbanks would be required to register if they use specific terms and conditions defined in the proposed rule that attempt to waive consumers' legal protections, to limit how consumers enforce their rights, or to restrict consumers' ability to file complaints or post reviews. To facilitate public awareness and oversight by other regulators including the States, the Bureau is proposing to publish information identifying registrants and their use of these terms and conditions.

Pursuant to its authorities under the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) is proposing to require certain nonbank covered person entities (with exclusions for insured depository institutions, insured credit unions, related persons, States, certain other entities, and natural persons) that are under certain final public orders obtained or issued by a Federal, State, or local agency in connection with the offering or provision of a consumer financial product or service to report the existence of such orders to a Bureau registry. The Bureau is proposing to include all final public written orders and judgments (including consent and stipulated orders and judgments) obtained or issued by the Bureau or any government agency (Federal, State, or local) for violation of certain consumer protection laws. Pursuant to its authority under the CFPA, the Bureau is also proposing to require certain supervised nonbanks to submit annual written statements regarding compliance with each underlying order, signed by an attesting executive who has knowledge of the entity's relevant systems and procedures for achieving compliance and control over the entity's compliance efforts.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) is requesting the extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval for an existing information collection titled ``Application for the Bureau's Advisory Committees'' approved under OMB Number 3170-0037.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) is requesting the extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval for an existing information collection titled ``Generic Information Collection Plan for Studies of Consumers Using Controlled Trials in Field and Economic Laboratory Settings'' approved under OMB Control Number 3170-0048.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) is requesting to extend the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval for an existing information collection titled ``Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z)'' approved under OMB Control Number 3170-0015.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) is amending the official commentary to its Regulation Z in order to make annual adjustments to the asset-size thresholds exempting certain creditors from the requirement to establish an escrow account for a higher-priced mortgage loan (HPML). These changes reflect updates to the exemption from the escrow requirement in the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) for creditors that, together with their affiliates that regularly extended covered transactions secured by first liens, had total assets of less than $2 billion (adjusted annually for inflation). They also reflect updates to the exemption the Bureau added, by implementing section 108 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA), for certain insured depository institutions and insured credit unions with assets of $10 billion or less (adjusted annually for inflation). These amendments are based on the annual percentage change in the average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Based on the 8.6 percent increase in the average of the CPI-W for the 12-month period ending in November 2022, the exemption threshold for creditors and their affiliates that regularly extended covered transactions secured by first liens is adjusted to $2.537 billion from $2.336 billion and the exemption threshold for certain insured depository institutions and insured credit unions with assets of $10 billion or less is adjusted to $11.374 billion from $10.473 billion.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) is issuing this final rule amending the regulation text and official interpretations for Regulation Z, which implements the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). The Bureau calculates the dollar amounts for several provisions in Regulation Z annually; this final rule revises, as applicable, the dollar amounts for provisions implementing TILA and amendments to TILA, including under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994 (HOEPA), and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The Bureau is adjusting these amounts, where appropriate, based on the annual percentage change reflected in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in effect on June 1, 2022.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) requests the revision of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval of an existing information collection titled ``Evaluation of Financial Empowerment Training Program'' approved under OMB Control Number 3170- 0067.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) requests the revision of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval of an existing information collection titled ``Terms of Credit Card Plans Survey'' approved under OMB Number 3170-0001.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) requests the extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval of an existing information collection titled ``Generic Information Collection Plan for the Development and Testing of Disclosures and Related Materials'' approved under OMB Number 3170-0022.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) is publishing this notice seeking comment on a Generic Information Collection titled ``Feedback Effects'' prior to requesting the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval of this collection under the Generic Information Collection ``Generic Information Collection Plan for Studies of Consumers Using Controlled Trials in Field and Economic Laboratory Settings'' under OMB Control Number 3170-0048.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) is issuing this final rule amending an appendix for Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The Bureau is required to calculate annually the dollar amount of the maximum allowable charge for disclosures by a consumer reporting agency to a consumer pursuant to FCRA section 609; this final rule establishes the maximum allowable charge for the 2023 calendar year.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) has issued Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-07, titled, ``Reasonable Investigation of Consumer Reporting Disputes.'' In this circular, the Bureau responds to the questions, ``1. Are consumer reporting agencies and the entities that furnish information to them (furnishers) permitted under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to impose obstacles that deter submission of disputes? '' and ``2. Do consumer reporting agencies need to forward to furnishers consumer- provided documents attached to a dispute? ''

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) requests the extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval of the existing information collection titled ``Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (Regulation C)'' approved under OMB Number 3170-0008.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) requests the extension of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval of the existing information collection titled ``Equal Access to Justice Act'' approved under OMB Number 3170-0040.