Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection February 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), this notice sets forth the announcement of a public meeting of the Credit Union Advisory Council (CUAC or Council) of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau). The notice also describes the functions of the Council.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is proposing to rescind certain provisions of the regulation promulgated by the Bureau in November 2017 governing Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans (2017 Final Rule or Rule). The provisions of the Rule which the Bureau proposes to rescind provide that it is an unfair and abusive practice for a lender to make a covered short-term or longer-term balloon-payment loan, including payday and vehicle title loans, without reasonably determining that consumers have the ability to repay those loans according to their terms; prescribe mandatory underwriting requirements for making the ability-to-repay determination; exempt certain loans from the mandatory underwriting requirements; and establish related definitions, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements. This proposal is related to another proposal, published separately in this issue of the Federal Register, seeking comment on whether the Bureau should delay the August 19, 2019 compliance date for these portions of the 2017 Final Rule.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is requesting to renew the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for a new information collection titled, ``Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Speaker Request Form.''

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is proposing to reinstate with change a previously approved collection titled, ``Generic Information Collection Plan for Studies of Consumers Using Controlled Trials in Field and Economic Laboratory Settings.''

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is proposing a new information collection, titled, ``Debt Collection Quantitative Disclosure Testing.''

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is amending the official commentary that interprets the requirements of the Bureau's Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) to reflect a change in the asset-size threshold for certain creditors to qualify for an exemption to the requirement to establish an escrow account for a higher-priced mortgage loan 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 2.6 percent increase in the average of the CPI-W for the 12-month period ending in November 2018, the exemption threshold is adjusted to increase to $2.167 billion from $2.112 billion. Therefore, creditors with assets of less than $2.167 billion (including assets of certain affiliates) as of December 31, 2018, are exempt, if other requirements of Regulation Z also are met, from establishing escrow accounts for higher-priced mortgage loans in 2019.