On November 30, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its Advisory Opinions Policy, which sets forth procedures to facilitate the submission by interested parties of requests that the CFPB issue advisory opinions, in the form of interpretive rules, to resolve regulatory uncertainty, and the manner in which the Bureau will evaluate and respond to such requests.
The CFPB also released its first Advisory Opinions that clarify the following Regulation Z issues:
- Private Education Loans – This advisory opinion clarifies that loan products that refinance or consolidate a consumer’s pre-existing Federal, or Federal and private, education loans meet the definition of “private education loan” in the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z and are subject to the disclosure and consumer protection requirements in subpart F of Regulation Z.
- Earned Wage Access Program – This advisory opinion resolves regulatory uncertainty regarding the applicability of the definition of credit under Regulation Z to certain earned wage access (EWA) programs that conform to certain material facts laid out in the Advisory Opinion.