In September 2023, the CFPB announced that it was launching a Fair Credit Reporting Act rulemaking and issued an outline of the proposals it is considering in preparation for convening a Small Business Advisory Review Panel.  A group of consumer financial industry trade groups recently sent a letter to Director Chopra urging the CFPB to issue an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) before it publishes a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

In their letter, the trade groups give the following reasons for their request:

• Given the importance of the credit system to the American economy, the CFPB should solicit the widest range of input via an ANPR before making any sweeping changes.
• The CFPB’s SBREFA outline lacks sufficient detail to enable participants to fully identify and respond to all of the issues and implications at stake.  The CFPB should build on the comments received through the SBREFA process and issue an ANPR that offers more specificity about the regulatory changes under consideration.
• The CFPB’s recently proposed rule to implement Section 1033 could impact the consumer reporting ecosystem.  For example, aggregators that currently are not consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) may be defined as CRAs by the proposed rule.  This classification would require those that provide data to and receive it from CRAs to fully understand and provide input to the CFPB on the interplay between the Section 1033 proposal and FCRA rulemaking.
• The CFPB has typically issued an ANPR when considering changes to other complex regulations that have a substantial effect on significant portions of the American economy, such as the Section 1033 rulemaking, rulemaking involving debt collection, credit card late fees, and home mortgage disclosure reporting requirements.  Consistent with other ANPR proceedings for complex bodies of law with significant economic impact, the CFPB should seek additional stakeholder input through a detailed ANPR.

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