Main Street Monday — CFPB Wants Small Business Loan Data

May 15, 2017

By Bob Coleman
Editor, Main Street Monday

Main Street Monday — CFPB Wants Small Business Loan Data

Seven years after the passage of Dodd-Frank, the CFPB has asked for feedback how best to collect data about small business lending “ to help identify needs and opportunities in the market and to facilitate enforcement of fair lending laws.”

“Small businesses fuel America’s economic engine, create jobs, and nurture communities. Yet little is known about how well the lending market serves their financing needs,” says CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “This inquiry will help us learn how we can best fulfill our duty to collect and report information on small business lending.”

“Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires financial institutions to compile, maintain, and report information about their applications for loans from small businesses, including those owned by women and minorities, in accordance with regulations to be issued by the Bureau. Today’s action is a first step toward crafting a rule for the collection and reporting of this lending data.”

Not so fast says The Independent Community Bankers of America.

“Community banks continue to implement and comply with an unprecedented number of new and amended regulatory requirements put into effect over the past several years,” ICBA President and CEO Camden R. Fine says. “The CFPB’s data-collection and reporting mandates will compound existing regulatory and paperwork burdens, to the detriment of economic and job growth. ICBA continues its call for Congress and the CFPB to address the mounting regulatory burdens harming local communities.”

Through its Plan for Prosperity regulatory relief platform, ICBA is calling on Congress to pass legislation that would repeal the statutory authority for new data-collection requirements on small-business loans.

Access the CFPB notice here. Comments are due in 60 days.

What do you think?

How do you feel about CFPB’s collection of data for all Small Business Loans

Strongly Support
Mildly Support
Mildly Oppose
Strongly Oppose
No Opinion

How do you feel about CFPB’s collection of data for SBA Loans

Strongly Support
Mildly Support
Mildly Oppose
Strongly Oppose
No Opinion

Any other comments?