In response to a request by ABA and 12 other trade groups, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today announced that it would extend by 60 days the comment deadline on its request for information on the small business lending data collection. Comments will now be due on Sept. 12.
The RFI is the CFPB’s first step in implementing section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires financial institutions to report information regarding credit applications by women-owned, minority owned and small businesses. The bureau is seeking information in five broad categories: the definition of a small business; the data points the bureau should require banks to report; the lenders to be encompassed by the data collection; the financial products offered to small businesses; and privacy and confidentiality concerns related to the data collection.
ABA has previously called on Congress to repeal Section 1071, noting that its conflation of consumer and commercial lending is misguided. Furthermore, ABA noted in a staff analysis of the RFI that the CFPB has no experience or institutional proficiencies to meet the requirements for gathering information on small business and understanding commercial lending. ABA has formed a working group to respond to the request.
