On October 3, 2016, the CFPB issued its 1,689 page Final Rule on Prepaid Accounts which was to primarily become effective on October 1, 2017. Surprisingly, the CFPB announced in a release last week, on March 9, 2017, that it was proposing to delay the implementation date for the rule until April 1, 2018. The CFPB is giving some love to the Deposit Compliance side of the bank much like it did with TRID on the Lending Compliance side.
In its release, the CFPB stated it had learned that some industry participants believe they would have faced difficulty complying with certain provisions of the rule by the October 1, 2017 effective date and that delaying the effective date by six months will be sufficient for industry participants to ensure they can comply with the rule. Neither the press release, nor the proposal, gave any indication of the regulatory provisions that were creating anxiety for industry participants.
In addition to that good news, the CFPB was very specific in stating that the proposal dealt only with a delay in the effective date and does not otherwise change any other part of the prepaid accounts rule. That was good news in case you thought the disclosure load was going to grow.
However, the proposal is asking, in part, for additional input about any implementation challenges and how additional time will impact the industry and consumers. As a result of that feedback process, if the CFPB identifies any substantive changes to the current prepaid accounts rule it will issue another Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule-making.
The proposal was posted in the Federal Resister today, March 15, 2017, and comments would need to be received by April 5, 2017. No worries NCAA basketball tournament addicts – the tournament championship game this year is April 3 so you still have two days after the end of the Madness to provide any comments to the CFPB.
There are several methods by which to comment but the easiest would be to send an email to: FederalRegisterComments@cfpb.gov. Be sure to indicate “Docket No. CFPB-2017” in the subject line and it might be a good idea to show the CFPB a little love by throwing in a couple of smiley face emojis with your comment.
You can read the proposal here.
