As discussed here, on December 7, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) made a preliminary conclusion that New York’s Commercial Financing Law (the New York law) was not preempted by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), and was also considering whether to make a preemption determination regarding similar state laws in California
On March 2, Florida State Representative Doug Bankston introduced HB1353, the Florida Commercial Financing Disclosure Law, that would mandate covered commercial financing companies provide consumer-like disclosures for certain commercial financing transactions. The law would also define and prohibit specific acts by brokers of those transactions, including the collection of advance fees. New York, California, Utah
Last year, Missouri State Senator Justin Brown (R) introduced a bill that would have imposed certain mandatory disclosure requirements for commercial financing transactions. Ultimately, the bill failed to advance. On December 1, 2022, Senator Brown reintroduced a similar bill, known as SB 187, which also requires registration of a commercial financing broker. The bill
On February 16, Illinois State Representative Hoan Huynh (D) introduced HB3064, the Small Business Truth in Lending Act, that would impose certain mandatory disclosure requirements for commercial financing transactions and require registration of small business finance companies and brokers. Illinois follows the lead of states such as New York, California, Utah, and Virginia which
On February 1, the Superintendent of Financial Services Adrienne A. Harris announced that the New York State Department of Financial Services completed the process for adopting a new regulation relating to disclosure requirements for commercial financing. The regulation, 23 NYCRR 600, applies to multiple types of commercial financing products and requires providers to issue
On January 4, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its 2022 Fall Rulemaking Agenda containing pre-rule, proposed rule, and final rules under consideration. The CFPB releases regulatory agendas twice a year in voluntary conjunction with a broader initiative led by the Office of Budget and Management to publish a Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory actions across the federal government. In the preamble to the Federal Register notice, the CFPB states that the information is current as of September 30, 2022 and identifies regulatory matters the CFPB “reasonably anticipates” having under consideration during the period from December 1, 2022, to November 30, 2023. The CFPB has not yet posted a blog or issued a press release about the agenda.
To help you keep abreast of relevant activities, below find a breakdown of some of the biggest events at the federal and state levels to impact the Consumer Finance Services industry this past week:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) agreed to a March 31, 2023 deadline to issue a final rule under Section 1071 of Dodd-Frank. Section 1071 amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to impose significant data collection requirements on small business creditors. The CFPB accepted the deadline as part of a previously agreed litigation settlement regarding alleged delays in the rulemaking process. The court accepted the deadline and maintained jurisdiction over the matter to oversee compliance with the settlement and to address any potential requests for modification.
In a June 17 blog post, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) Director Rohit Chopra announced that the CFPB intends to “move away from highly complicated rules” in favor of “simpler and clearer rules.” As part of this effort, the CFPB will be “dramatically increasing the amount of guidance it is providing to the marketplace” and that it aspires such guidance to be simple and straight forward.
On September 15, 2020, after considerable delay and pursuant to a court settlement, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its Outline of Proposals Under Consideration and Alternatives Considered for small business lending data collection rulemaking. When the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) was passed, Section 1071 amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to require such small business data collection. Dodd-Frank requires the CFPB to comply with The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) of 1996, which provided new avenues for small businesses to participate in the federal regulatory arena and created Small Business Advocacy Review panels (SBAR panels, also known as SBREFA panels).
Section 1071 states that “in the case of any application to a financial institution for credit for women-owned, minority-owned, or small business, the financial institution shall – (1) inquire whether the business is a women-owned, minority-owned, or small business, without regard to whether such application is received in person, by mail, by telephone, by electronic mail or other form of electronic transmission, or by any other means, and whether or not such application is in response to a solicitation by the financial institution…” The purpose of Section 1071 was to facilitate the enforcement of fair lending laws. The CFPB is beginning the process of writing regulations to implement Section 1071.
The CFPB’s Outline describes the various proposals that are being considered to implement Section 1071, the relevant law, the regulatory process, and an economic analysis of the potential impacts on small entities that will be directly impacted.