While the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has not set specific deadlines to issue proposals on debt collection, analysts expect so-called pre-rulemaking activities - typically a report or a small-business review panel - to occur this summer.
Ed Mills, a policy analyst at FBR Capital Markets, expects pre-rulemaking on debt collection in June. The CFPB also plans to release its
Debt collection and overdraft fees affect far more consumers than payday lending, but rulemaking on payday lending is likely to have a far bigger impact on the industry's current business model, he said.
"The CFPB is very much focused on the short-term, small-dollar credit space and is taking a holistic look at all the ways that an individual interacts with financial institutions," Mills said. "Part of why [the rulemaking] is taking so long is that they are trying to ensure there isn't a regulatory arbitrage of consumer protections."
The CFPB also is continuing rulemaking that would define larger participants in the installment and vehicle title lending market, and is considering whether rules should require registration of such firms. The CFPB is expected to propose rules on installment and vehicle title lending in December that could be finalized by mid-to-late 2017, Mills said.
The bureau expects to issue a final rule this summer on prepaid reloadable cards that consumers often use in lieu of a checking account. Analysts had initially expected the rule would be issued in March.
The CFPB also plans to issue a final rule this summer to amend mortgage servicing rules that took effect in 2013. The rules would amend a proposal published in 2014 to address certain aspects of loss mitigation and compliance with rules when a borrower is in bankruptcy or is a successor in interest.
Additionally, the CFPB plans this summer to offer clarifications and guidance to its "Know Before You Owe" mortgage disclosure rule, known in the industry as TRID, which went into effect Oct. 3.
The CFPB said it is in the "very early stages" of rulemaking that would establish requirements for lenders to report data on loan applications made by women-owned, minority-owned businesses and small businesses.
The CFPB has not set a deadline for the small-business data collection, though Mills expects a rulemaking in December, pushed back from September, though a final rule likely is years away. A rule on small-business data collection likely would increase reporting costs at banks. The data also could be used by the bureau to take enforcement actions or develop new regulations to prevent discrimination in lending.
