CFPB should submit FCRA rulemaking through ANPR process

CUNA and NAFCU wrote to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra urging the bureau to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) before it published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the consumer reporting under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

The CFPB’s proposals would increase the scope of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to establish new responsibilities for credit unions. CUNA and NAFCU previously called the FCRA proposal an “unwarranted and cast expansion” of the statute, and expressed concerns over the short timeline to provide feedback on its impact.

“The FCRA rulemaking process requires care, thought, and deliberation,” the organizations wrote. “The CFPB should consider input from a broad array of stakeholders, many of whose voices have not yet been heard. An ANPR process could increase the Bureau’s understanding of the impacts its rule would have on consumers, the American economy, and the businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies that use information to serve to consumers drive the American economy. We encourage you to submit the FCRA rulemaking to an ANPR process.”

The organizations note four reasons the CFPB should go through the ANPR process:

• The CFPB is considering changes to Regulation V to substantially overhaul the rules that undergirds the American credit economy. Before making such sweeping changes, the CFPB should solicit the widest range of input via an ANPR.
• The CFPB’s Outline in the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) review process “lacked sufficient detail to enable participants to fully identify and respond to all the issues and implications at stake,” so the CFPB should build on those comments and issue an ANPR that offers more specificity about the regulatory changes under consideration.
• Given the significant interplay between this FCRA proposed rule and the section 1033 proposed rule, it is important to obtain stakeholder input on the impact of and intersections between the section 1033 rulemaking and the FCRA rulemaking.
• CFPB has typically issued an ANPR when considering changes to other complex regulations that have a substantial effect on significant portions of the American economy, and few rules would arguably have more impact on the “daily lives of consumers, nonprofits, government agencies, and businesses” as the FCRA.