NCUA's Office of Consumer Protection; Compliance GPS

Written by Steve Van Beek

I have focused quite a bit recently on the role and authority of the CFPB.  While the CFPB will have rulewriting authority that will impact all credit unions, NCUA will remain the primary examiner for federal credit unions with less than $10 billion in assets.

The new CFPB has been generating tremendous amounts of press coverage.  I have a feeling this will only intensify when the CFPB starts writing and enforcing regulations.  Financial journalists and consumer groups will write articles detailing the practices the CFPB is focusing on.  This will spark an uptick in consumer and member complaints.  For example, if the CFPB hints that a practice might be "unfair or deceptive," any institution involved in that practice will face reputation risk and will need to examine its practices.    

One thing to keep in mind is that NCUA will handle member complaints for credit unions under $10 billion in assets.  Any complaints the CFPB receives for credit unions below this threshold will be passed on to NCUA.  Those complaints will be handled by NCUA's Office of Consumer Protection - an office recently created by NCUA to focus on consumer compliance issues.

Unfortunately, we do not have a good idea of how NCUA's Office of Consumer Protection will handle these complaints and the processes it will use to communicate issues with credit unions.  On Monday, NAFCU sent a comment letter to NCUA seeking transparency regarding the new office and asking NCUA to, at a minimum, release a Letter to Credit Unions outlining the Office's functions and expected policies and processes in order for credit unions to be prepared.

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Shameless Plug:  NAFCU has a new Credit Union Compliance GPS manual available.  The manual is electronic and includes numerous links to legal opinion letters, guidance documents, and the regulations themselves.  

You can take a peek at the table of contents as well.  We have chapters on the E-SIGN Act, Share Insurance, How to Conduct Research and many more.  The manual is available for purchase by anyone seeking to know more about compliance issues facing credit unions.  

Have a great weekend!