The American Bankers Association and several other trade groups last week requested a 60-day extension to the comment period for the CFPB’s unexpected advance notice of proposed rulemaking on credit card late fees and late payments. The current comment deadline is July 22, meaning that the ANPR allows only 20 working days to gather data in response, the groups said.
“The information sought in this ANPR is complex and comprehensive, requiring significant analysis and internal coordination to enable firms to provide a meaningful contribution to the public comment record in furtherance of the CFPB’s consideration of credit card late fees and late payments,” the groups said. “Many of the data points requested have not previously been requested by the CFPB and respondents require more time than has been provided to properly validate their data production methods and to actually produce what is expected to be a large volume of data.”
The groups noted that the ANPR “appears to question” an “established methodology” in place since 2010 for calculating late fees and late payments, thus “raising complex issues of regulatory continuity for commenters to consider.” Moreover, the ANPR was unexpected, since the CFPB did not list this regulatory activity in its regulatory agenda, which was published the evening before the ANPR was announced, nor did the bureau submit the ANPR to the White House office that manages regulatory developments.
