Bureau seeks to improve clarity and transparency in regulations of disclosures and practices and anticipated uses of confidential information.
10/29/2020 12:00
In one of many actions on the regulatory front in recent weeks, as ACA International and the accounts receivable management industry awaits the release of the final debt collection rule, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a final rule amending its disclosure of records and information regulation.
“The rule seeks to balance concerns regarding the bureau’s need to protect confidential personal, business, supervisory, and investigative information against the need to use and disclose certain information in the course of the bureau’s work or the work of other agencies with overlapping statutory or regulatory authority,” according to a news release.
The elements of the rule date back to 2011, when the CFPB first released an interim final rule to establish safeguards for protecting the confidentiality of information as well as procedures for disclosing information as appropriate.
ACA submitted comments on the interim rule in 2011 focused on ensuring the rule considered requirements under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
The 2011 interim final rule also focused on ensuring the release of information in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in the context of consumer debt must comply with FOIA’s exemptions, which ACA supported in its comments.
The amended rule from the CFPB addresses the confidential treatment of information that the bureau obtains from persons in connection with the exercise of its authorities under federal consumer financial laws, according to the news release.
The final rule achieves the following, the bureau reports:
- Improves clarity and transparency by revising the rules related to the bureau’s information practices;
- Improves bureau relationships with agency partners and others, increases clarity and eliminates unnecessary hurdles to collaboration;
- Improves the bureau’s ability to protect its confidential information; and,
- Provides guidance to industry stakeholders on how the bureau interprets its own rules.
According to the rule, the bureau sought to provide the maximum protection for confidential information while ensuring its ability to share or disclose information to the extent necessary to achieve its mission. The bureau has included detailed procedures in its final rule to promote transparency regarding its practices and anticipated uses of confidential information.
The bureau also sought to balance concerns regarding the need to protect confidential information, including sensitive personal information, business information, confidential investigative information and confidential supervisory information, against the need to use and disclose certain information in the course of its work or, as appropriate, the work of other agencies with overlapping statutory or regulatory authority, according to the rule.
Stay in the know about regulatory updates from ACA’s team by joining our ACA Huddle webinars for members each Wednesday. Visit the events calendar to view the ACA Huddle schedule and access archived Huddle recordings here.
Registration is also open for members to join ACA staff and guest speakers during an 11-part ACA Huddle series following the release of the CFPB’s final debt collection rule.