CFPB invites comments on amending rules already in effect

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday it is seeking feedback on whether it should amend any rules it has issued since it opened its doors.

Major rules that the CFPB has already adopted include those governing mortgage servicing, mortgage origination, integrated mortgage disclosures, remittance transfers and prepaid accounts.

However, the bureau said it is not requesting feedback on its 2015 rule that expanded data collection under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, or its 2017 small-dollar payday lending rule, since both rules are being reconsidered.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

The CFPB had already asked for public comments on its ability-to-repay and "qualified mortgage" standards, as well as remittance transfers and a mortgage servicing rule issued under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Those specific rules are subject to a five-year "look back" review mandated by Dodd-Frank, and many believe the CFPB will modify, expand or eliminate them.

The request for feedback on adopted regulations is the eighth out of a dozen such requests that acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney has initiated so far as part of a public review of all the CFPB's processes.

The bureau said in a press release that it is seeking comment on "whether it should amend any rules it has issued since its creation or issue rules under new rulemaking authority provided for by the Dodd-Frank Act."

The CFPB said feedback on adopted regulations should include whether rules have created "unintended consequences," or whether they overlap or conflict with other laws and regulations, thereby making "it difficult or particularly burdensome for institutions to comply."

The agency said it also wants to know whether adopted regulations "are incompatible or misaligned with new technologies, including by limiting providers' ability to deliver, electronically, mandatory disclosures or other information that may be relevant to consumers."

The CFPB cited "pilots, field tests, demonstrations or other activities" that the bureau could launch that might better quantify benefits and costs of potential revisions to its adopted regulations, or to make compliance with the adopted regulations more efficient and effective.