Regulatory Compliance Weekly Roundup: Oct. 13, 2023

It's Friday the 13th! And in Spooky Season nonetheless! I read an interesting article this morning about the suspected origins of the belief that Friday the 13th is unlucky. Personally, I fall into the same category as Michael Scott from The Office, who said "I'm not superstitious, but I'm a little stitious." In any case, be sure not to step on any cracks or walk under any ladders as we recap the week that was in regulatory compliance.

NCUA

The NCUA published the agenda for next week's Board meeting, which will take place on Thursday, Oct. 19 (10 a.m.). There are three agenda items: a board briefing on cybersecurity, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Simplification of Insurance Rules, and a Proposed Rule on Fair Hiring in Banking. Notably absent from the agenda is a mid-session budget review. NCUA approved a two-year budget late last year, which covers 2023 and 2024. However, the agency will typically do a mid-session budget review in the off-year. We expect that review to be on the agenda for the November meeting.

Speaking of the NCUA Board, the Senate Banking Committee has announced a nominations hearing for Thursday, Oct. 19. Tanya Otsuka, the NCUA nominee will testify, along with nominees from several agencies.

CFPB

It was a busy week for the CFPB. We wrote earlier this week about the CFPB's advisory opinion on how fees can be a barrier to complying with requests for information. President Biden gave remarks about his Administration's continued attacks on "junk fees," with CFPB Director Rohit Chopra present for the remarks. As we noted, while the CFPB's advisory opinion only directly impacts large financial institutions ($10 billion and above), the impacts on the market and consumer expectations could extend further. It's also possible we'll see legal challenges to this interpretation, as we have to other CFPB actions.

Yesterday the CFPB and the Justice Department issued a joint statement reminding financial institutions that they may not use immigration status to illegally discriminate against credit applicants. In a press release, the Bureau stated that they are "issuing this statement because consumers have reported being rejected for credit cards as well as for auto, student, personal, and equipment loans because of their immigration status, even when they have strong credit histories and ties to the United States and are otherwise qualified to receive the loans."

The joint statement explains that while the Equal Credit Opportunity Act allows creditors to consider immigration status when necessary to ascertain the creditor’s rights regarding repayment, unnecessary or overbroad reliance on immigration status may violate the Act’s prohibition of discrimination on the basis of national origin, race or another prohibited basis. The joint statement also confirms that neither the Equal Credit Opportunity Act nor its regulations provide companies a safe harbor with respect to other laws barring discrimination on the basis of immigration status. The Bureau also wrote a blog post with additional information.

Also yesterday, the CFPB and FTC took action against a rental screening subsidiary of TransUnion for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In a separate action, the Bureau also fined TransUnion $8 million for "lying to consumers about timely placing or removing security freezes and locks on the credit reports of tens of thousands of consumers."

According to CFPB, the credit bureau had a yearslong backlog of freeze requests but would tell customers that their requests had been processed. TransUnion also failed to keep active-duty members of the military from pre-screened solicitation lists.

That's all for today and this week - have a great weekend, and be sure to stock up on Halloween candy - trick or treating is somehow right around the corner!