Newsroom

August 23, 2016

CFPB eyes changes to public info request processes

CFPB is taking comments until Oct. 24 on proposed changes to procedures related to information requests made by the public through the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act and in legal proceedings.

Published today in the Federal Register, the proposed amendments would clarify provisions of the bureau's 2013 rule on procedures for disclosing information while protecting confidentiality. CFPB is required under the Dodd-Frank Act to make regulations protecting the confidentiality of certain information and to keep it from the public eye. CFPB said the proposed amendments are based on the bureau's experience with information requests during the past several years.

NAFCU has repeatedly raised concerns about CFPB's collection and storage of personally identifiable information and information that could be reverse-engineered to identify individuals.

In July 2015, the CFPB Office of the Inspector General announced it had uncovered seven control deficiencies related to the security of the bureau's Consumer Complaint Database, echoing privacy and risk concerns NAFCU had raised earlier that year. After the OIG's audit, which focused on how the bureau collects, handles and stores consumer financial information, CFPB said it would act to address the concerns.

NAFCU was the only financial services trade association to oppose subjecting credit unions to CFPB authority under Dodd-Frank.