The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today rescinded seven policy statements that provided temporary flexibilities for financial institutions when serving customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rescissions take effect tomorrow.
The rescinded policy statements include:
- A March 26, 2020, statement affirming that the CFPB would take into account staffing and related resource challenges facing banks when conducing supervision and enforcement activities.
- A March 26, 2020, statement postponing quarterly Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting requirements.
- A March 26, 2020, statement postponing data submission requirements related to credit card and prepaid accounts required by TILA, Regulation Z and Regulation E.
- An April 1, 2020, statement on financial institutions’ reporting obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Regulation V during the pandemic.
- An April 27, 2020, statement affirming that the bureau would not take supervisory or enforcement action against land developers subject to the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act and Regulation J until further notice.
- A May 13, 2020, statement providing flexibility for creditors to resolve billing errors during the pandemic.
- A June 3, 2020, statement providing flexibility for credit card issuers when providing electronic versions of disclosures that are required to obtain electronic consent from a consume in accordance with the E-Sign Act and Reg Z.
In addition to these statements, the bureau also issued a revised bulletin on supervisory communications, replacing a 2018 bulletin which sought to distinguish Matters Requiring Attention and Supervisory Recommendations. The revised bulletin notes that “examiners will continue to rely on Matters Requiring Attention to convey supervisory expectations” and will no longer issue Supervisory Recommendations. It further states that “bureau examiners may issue MRAs with or without a related supervisory finding that a supervised entity has violated a Federal consumer financial law.”
