The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law should look closely at how the CFPB’s rules have impacted credit unions, CUNA wrote to the CFPB Monday. The CFPB is seeking information to assist with the taskforce, which was announced last October.

“We urge the Taskforce, as it conducts its review, to look closely at the outsized impact that the Bureau’s rules have had on credit unions as community-based financial institutions and to recommend the Bureau streamline regulations with an eye toward improving the financial health and well-being of consumers,” the letter reads. “To that end, credit unions believe the Bureau’s rules should focus on Wall Street banks and the unregulated and under-regulated sectors of the financial services industry.”

The letter outlines several legislative and regulatory recommendations to ensure credit unions can continue to provide high-quality financial products and services to members. Among the major principles, CUNA highlighted:

• The current single-director CFPB leadership structure should be replaced with a bipartisan commission,
• The Bureau’s regulatory agenda should be focused on bad actors in the marketplace,
• The Bureau should aim to effectively coordinate with state and federal authorities to avoid duplication and inconsistency; and
• The CFPB should join CUNA in support a national data privacy standard that addresses data security requirements and pre-empts state laws.

The letter also provided specific recommendations for Taskforce related to CFPB rulemakings and initiatives, including HMDA, small dollar lending, QM, UDAAP, small business data collection, alternative data, and others.