CFPB Issues Third Semiannual Report

CFPB Fair Lending HMDA

On March 29, the CFPB released its third semiannual report, which covers the Bureau’s activities from July 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012. The report reviews, among other things, the CFPB’s supervision, enforcement, and rulemaking activities over the subject period. With regard to fair lending, the report confirms that the CFPB is developing a fair-lending focused component of its Compliance Analysis Solution system that collects, validates, and analyzes loan portfolio data, and highlights previously reported fair lending activities, including those in its December 2012 fair lending report. The report also touches on many other familiar topics – it again reviews the CFPB’s complaint handling process and summarizes complaints received to date, discusses challenges consumers have reported with regard to student loan obligations, and highlights “shopping challenges” allegedly present in small dollar lending. Finally, the report provides vague timeframes for rulemakings, including the CFPB’s plan to (i) “accelerate work on” amendments to HMDA to require creditors to collect and report additional lending data, and (ii) propose a prepaid card rule in 2013.