TIPS BULLETIN #15-08

To: All Credit Unions

Subject: The CFPB Temporarily Suspends Credit Card Issuers’ (with over10,000 Open Credit Card Accounts) Obligation to Submit Credit Card Agreements

The material in this publication is provided for educational and informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Use of any material or information in this publication should never be a substitute for seeking the advice of an attorney or a certified public accountant.

Effective Date: April 17, 2015

Background

Truth in Lending Act TILA section 122(d)(1) requires each creditor to post its credit card agreements on its own Web site, and section 122(d)(2) requires the creditor to provide its agreements to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). TILA section 122(d)(3) also requires the CFPB to establish and maintain its own publicly available Web site and central warehouse of the agreements it receives under section 122(d)(2).

The implementing regulations in Regulation Z, also requires the submission of credit card agreements to be posted on the CFPB website quarterly.These quarterly submissions must be sent to the CFPB no later than the first business day on or after January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31 of each year. Except in certain circumstances, card issuers must post and maintain on their publicly available Web sites the credit card agreements that the issuers are required to submit to the CFPB.The CFPB believes this process may be unnecessarily cumbersome for issuers and may make issuers' own internal tracking of previously submitted agreements difficult.

  • De minimis exception. (i) A card issuer is not required to submit any credit card agreements to the Bureau if the card issuer had fewer than 10,000 open credit card accounts as of the last business day of the calendar quarter. (1026.58(c)(5))

Summary

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is amending Regulation Z, which implements the Truth in Lending Act, to temporarily suspend card issuers’ obligations to submit credit card agreements to the Bureau for a period of one year, in order for the Bureau to work towards developing a more streamlined and automated electronic submission system.

Some of the other requirements under Regulation Z, including card issuers’ obligations to post currently-offered agreements on their own websites, remain unchanged.

Additional Links:

Final Rule

Questions

If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact the Research and Information’s toll-free hotline at 877.243.5728.