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

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. This amendment is 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 1.6 percent increase in the average of the CPI-W for the 12-month period ending in November 2019, the exemption threshold is adjusted to $2.202 billion from $2.167 billion. Therefore, creditors with assets of less than $2.202 billion (including assets of certain affiliates) as of December 31, 2019, are exempt, if other requirements of Regulation Z also are met, from establishing escrow accounts for higher-priced mortgage loans in 2020.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is issuing its twentieth edition of its Supervisory Highlights. In this special issue of Supervisory Highlights, we report examination findings in the areas of consumer reporting and furnishing of information to consumer reporting companies, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Regulation V. The report does not impose any new or different legal requirements, and all violations described in the report are based only on those specific facts and circumstances noted during those examinations.

The Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), as amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), establishes certain protections for consumers sending international money transfers, or remittance transfers. The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection's (Bureau) remittance rule in Regulation E (Remittance Rule or Rule) implements these protections. The Bureau is proposing changes to the Rule to mitigate the effects of the expiration of a statutory exception that allows insured institutions to disclose estimates instead of exact amounts to consumers. That exception expires on July 21, 2020. In addition, the Bureau is proposing to increase a safe harbor threshold in the Rule related to whether a person makes remittance transfers in the normal course of its business, which would have the effect of reducing compliance costs for entities that make a limited number of remittance transfers annually.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is requesting to reinstate the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for the previously-approved information collection titled, ``Application for the Bureau's Advisory Committees.''