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CFPB Director Richard Cordray told Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, who are pushing for a greater credit union and community bank exemption from more CFPB rules, that the bureau has already taken steps to give regulatory relief to small financial institutions.

Last month, the lawmakers initiated a letter signed by a bipartisan group of 329 House members urging the bureau to use its Section 1022(b)(3)(a) authority under the Dodd-Frank Act to exempt credit unions from certain rulemakings. NAFCU joined the group in calling for CFPB to do more to exempt credit unions from regulation.

Most recently, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger has urged CFPB to use its exemption authority to exempt all credit unions from the upcoming payday lending rulemaking. Such an exemption would protect credit unions that make short-term, small-amount loans in accordance with current state and federal laws, such as the payday alternative loan (PAL) program.

"As I have consistently said in the past, the Bureau recognizes that community banks and credit unions did not cause the financial crisis," Cordray wrote in a response letter to the lawmakers. "For that reason, the Bureau is committed to ensuring that the regulations we promulgate are well-tailored and effective."

Cordray cited several CFPB modifications for small creditors, including:

• offering an expanded safe harbor for small creditors under the qualified mortgage rules;
• exempting small creditors in rural or underserved areas from some mortgage rules;
• exempting small servicers from providing Truth in Lending Act periodic statements; and
• exempting small servicers from Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act loss mitigation requirements.

Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee in March, Cordray pushed back against Stivers' argument that the bureau must do more to exempt credit unions from rulemakings. He also said Congress had already spoken on credit union exemption by not explicitly exempting credit unions from the bureau's jurisdiction.

NAFCU continues to maintain that CFPB has the authority to do more under Section 1022, and it believes CFPB has not used that authority as Congress intended.