The House of Representatives has repealed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) 2013 guidelines regarding indirect auto lending, using the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
The Senate repealed the resolution by a 51-47 vote last month. President Donald Trump is likely to sign the measure.
“As we noted when the CFPB’s indirect auto lending guidance was issued in 2013, NAFCU supports fair lending and opposes discrimination,” Brad Thaler, National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) vice president of Legislative Affairs, said. “We believe, however, that the CFPB’s use of guidance in this matter to create additional requirements for indirect auto lending was troubling and warranted additional scrutiny.”
Senate Republicans said they invoked the CRA on the regulatory action based on a Government Accountability Office (GAO) finding the CFPB’s guidance was generally enforced by the bureau the same way as a rule, yet was never submitted to Congress for review as is the protocol for all rules created by regulators. Officials said this is the first use of the CRA on regulatory guidance that was never submitted to Congress as a rule.
Thaler said while the unprecedented use of the CRA on guidance may create future uncertainty, the NAFCU is supportive of Congress finding ways to provide credit unions the flexibility to best serve their members.
“We look forward to working with the CFPB to address our concerns on this issue,” he said.