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Many House Financial Services subcommittee members and witnesses in a hearing Tuesday expressed NAFCU-shared concerns about the extra data points being collected under the CFPB's Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rule and the additional burden it places on community financial institutions.

NAFCU has repeatedly expressed similar concerns with Congress and the CFPB.

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit reviewed several legislative proposals – including the NAFCU-backed Home Mortgage Reporting Relief Act of 2017 (H.R. 4648) – as it works to create a more efficient federal financial regulatory regime.

H.R. 4648 would delay the collection and reporting of new data points under the CFPB's HMDA rule. The bill, authored by Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., would also prohibit the CFPB from publicly publishing any information collected under HMDA except in aggregate form.

Last month, as urged by NAFCU, the CFPB announced intentions to pursue a "good faith efforts" policy when examining credit union compliance with the HMDA rule, which went into effect Jan. 1. The CFPB also recently announced its intention to review the HMDA rule.

Also discussed Tuesday by the subcommittee was the NAFCU-backed Community Financial Institution Exemption Act (H.R. 1264). The bill, authored by Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, would raise the CFPB exemption threshold for community institutions to $50 billion in assets and strengthen the bureau's exemption authority.

The current regulatory burden facing community financial institutions – specifically credit unions – was addressed by various panel members. Ahead of the subcommittee's hearing, NAFCU wrote in support of the above-noted bills, noting that "regulatory relief is needed both from Congress and the regulators to ensure credit unions have a healthy and appropriate environment that allows them to meet the needs of the nation's 110 million credit union members."