Compliance Blog

Oct 29, 2021
Categories: Consumer Lending

Has your credit union met the November 1st deadline to register for Collect?

If your credit union issues credit cards, you may be familiar with Regulation Z, section 1026.57 and section 1026.58. Section 1026.57 requires a credit union that was a party to at least one college credit card agreement, during the calendar year, to submit an annual report to the CFPB. A college credit card agreement is an agreement between a card issuer and institution of higher education (or affiliated organization) in order to issue college student credit cards to students enrolled at the institution. Section 1026.58 requires card issuing credit unions, with more than 10,000 open credit card accounts, to submit quarterly reports to the CFPB. An open credit card account is any credit card account where there is a non-charged off outstanding balance or the cardholder can obtain further extensions of credit. Credit unions may want to review the individual sections to determine whether they are required to submit data to the CFPB as other requirements or exceptions may apply.

This brings us to the crux of this blog. On August 23, 2021, the CFPB issued a rule that updated the technical specifications for submitting credit card agreements, data, and information under Regulation Z and the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009. That is, the CFPB has not altered the requirements to submit information, but merely changed how a credit union must submit the required information.

Under the previous submission process, credit unions submitted agreements and agreement information to the CFPB via email. Under the new rule, credit unions will make submissions using the CFPB’s Collect website. To use the Collect website, credit unions must complete the Collect registration form and send it to Collect_Support@cfpb.gov. Here is a letter from NCUA regarding the new rule that may be helpful to credit unions. According to the letter, “credit unions that have registered for Collect in the past do not need to register again.”

For credit unions required to make quarterly submissions under section 1026.58 (10,000 or more open credit card accounts by quarter end), the credit union must submit its 2021 fourth quarter data using Collect by January 31, 2022 and for each quarter thereafter. However, credit unions should note that they are required to register for Collect by November 1, 2021. If your credit union is required to submit quarterly credit card data, you may want to ensure that it has been registered for Collect.

For credit unions required to submit annual reports regarding college credit cards, the credit union must submit its annual 2021 report by March 31, 2022. Unlike for quarterly submissions, there is no register by date for credit unions that must make annual college credit card submissions.

Finally, credit unions that were selected by the CFPB to participate in the Terms of Credit Card Plans (TCCP) Survey must submit their data for the survey cycle beginning on January 31, 2022 by February 14, 2022.The TCCP Survey is a survey that the CFPB is required to undertake semiannually to obtain credit card information from a sampling of financial institutions. Not every financial institution is selected for the TCCP Survey. There is no register by date for TCCP survey participants.

Credit unions may also want to note that the CFPB is in the process of updating and publishing resources for card issuers that need to use Collect. These resources will likely be published here. However, credit unions may want to note that, as of the date of this article, many of the instructions included therein have not been updated to reflect the changes made by the new rule.

About the Author

Keith Schostag, NCCO, Senior Regulatory Compliance Counsel, NAFCU

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Keith Schostag joined NAFCU as regulatory compliance counsel in February 2021. In this role, Keith assists credit unions with a variety of compliance issues.

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