[author: Barbara S. Mishkin]

At a November 5 joint press conference with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Director Cordray announced that the CFPB and the City of Chicago had entered into an information-sharing agreement. The agreement was touted as the first of its kind between a city and the CFPB.

In its press release announcing the agreement, the City of Chicago described the agreement as creating “a framework for the City and the CFPB to share with each other information about scams involving pay-day lenders and other financial institutions affecting Chicagoans.” The CFPB intends to use the information it receives from Chicago in determining which consumer financial products and services should be the focus of the Bureau’s supervision and enforcement teams and rulemaking initiatives.

The information that will be shared by the City is likely to include “information on predatory and deceptive acts associated with home repair loans, payday loans, small dollar loans, reverse mortgage products, and mortgage origination and servicing.” The City’s press release lists the gathering of such information as one of several “protective actions” being taken by the City. The shared information is also likely to include mortgage loan data that the City receives from mortgage lenders pursuant to City rules that contain broader reporting requirements than those in the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Presumably, the CFPB will share information with the City that the CFPB receives through consumer complaints or other sources.

Other “protective actions” being taken by the City listed in the press release include the (1) introduction of a new City Council ordinance to regulate and license debt collectors, and (2) implementation of new zoning regulations “to limit the proliferation of payday lenders, auto-title loan stores, and other predatory financial services.”