Newsroom

NAFCU and other financial services trade associations met yesterday with officials from the Department of Defense to discuss Military Lending Act issues, including an update on the consumer reporting agencies' direct connect option, MLA database concerns and the need for compliance guidance.

NAFCU Director of Regulatory Affairs Alexander Monterrubio, Director of Regulatory Compliance Brandy Bruyere and Regulatory Compliance Counsel Benjamin Litchfield attended Thursday's meeting, which also included conversation on implementation issues such as the required oral disclosures; share-secured products; and credit card compliance concerns. (The rule's credit-card changes take effect Oct. 3, 2017.)

"NAFCU is actively engaged on this issue and we're optimistic the Defense Department will provide much-needed clarification through guidance sometime in the near future," Monterrubio said.

Earlier this month, NAFCU updated its collection of compliance resources related to the MLA. The collection now has new information on delivering oral disclosures, calculating the Military Annual Percentage Rate for open-end credit and how the MLA applies to loans for purchases of land, boats and RVs. The collection also includes NAFCU's Final Rule, webcasts and blog posts on the rule.

Bruyere encourages NAFCU members to download the updated version in order to have the latest available information on how to comply with the rule.