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NAFCU, along with over 80 trade associations, Thursday sent a letter to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra urging for an extension to the Bureau’s 90-day comment period for its section 1071 proposed rule. The group asked the Bureau for the original deadline to receive comments on or before Jan. 6, 2022, to be extended by an additional 45 days to Feb. 20, 2022. 

In the letter, the group explained an extension would give small institutions like credit unions ample time to research and provide feedback regarding the proposed rule. The proposal will “require covered financial institutions to collect and report to the Bureau more than 21 data elements on applications for credit by small business in order to ‘facilitate the enforcement of fair lending laws’ and to ‘enable communities, governmental entities, and creditors to identify business and community development needs and opportunities of women-owned, minority-owned, and small businesses,’” wrote the authors.

NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger last month wrote to Chopra to ask the Bureau to revisit the proposed rule to implement changes made by section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act and its likely effects as related to a proposal in the Build Back Better Act to authorize the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish a direct 7(a) lending program.

The association has outlined the changes made by the rule and engaged with credit union members to gather input on the proposal through a NAFCU Regulatory Alert.  

Of note, NAFCU monitored the CFPB’s Credit Union Advisory Council’s (CUAC) Thursday meeting where the group reviewed the proposal.

Read the full joint letter here. NAFCU remains engaged with the CFPB and will continue to ask for the bureau to offer clarity and additional time for credit unions to provide feedback on this rulemaking.