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NAFCU to CFPB: Slow down rulemakings to ensure proper guidance, support

WASHINGTON, DC (July 3, 2018) — National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) Regulatory Affairs Counsel Andrew Morris sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) urging the Bureau to slow down its future rulemakings to ensure proper regulatory guidance. The letter is in response to the agency’s request for information on its guidance and implementation support.

“In general, NAFCU appreciates the Bureau’s commitment to improving its guidance and implementation support to ease compliance burdens and facilitate resolution of regulatory questions,” said NAFCU’s Regulatory Affairs Counsel Andrew Morris. “For many credit unions, the Bureau’s small entity compliance guides are essential tools that clarify important aspects of the rule in plain language. NAFCU strongly encourages the Bureau to continue publishing guidance and implementation support materials to ease compliance burdens for small entities. We urge the Bureau to publish such materials alongside final rules or—at the very least—well in advance of effective dates.”

In the letter, Morris highlighted several ways the bureau could improve its guidance and implementation support moving forward, including:

ensuring the interpretive guidance is consistently organized in rule commentary;
avoid articulating major requirements or exceptions solely through official interpretations and ensure that problematic provisions of rules are addressed through amendments, not guidance;
making greater use of explanatory fact patterns to illustrate the application of its rules; and
publishing the guidance developed for public webinars or in response to regulatory inquiries.

For full text of the letter, please see attached.

About NAFCU

The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions is the only national trade association focusing exclusively on federal issues affecting the nation’s federally-insured credit unions. NAFCU membership is direct and provides credit unions with the best in federal advocacy, education and compliance assistance. For more information on NAFCU, go to www.nafcu.org or @NAFCU on Twitter.