House Financial Services Committee advances Small LENDER Act

The House Financial Services Committee advanced an America’s Credit Unions-supported regulatory relief legislation Tuesday. The Small Lenders Exempt from New Data and Excessive Reporting (LENDER) Act (H.R. 941) would exempt certain smaller financial institutions from small business loan data collection requirements established under Section 1071 of Dodd-Frank.

America’s Credit Unions wrote in strong support of the bill prior to the markup, noting it “would provide regulatory relief to America’s small businesses, allowing credit unions and other community financial institutions to continue to provide access to credit to small businesses,” and the updated thresholds in the bill would “focus this requirement on large institutions and those that are active lenders in this space.”

Introduced by committee Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., the bill passed with a 26-22 vote.

America’s Credit Unions will continue to support this bill as it moves forward, and remains engaged with the CFPB’s efforts to update the 1071 rule to appropriately balance the goals of transparency and fair lending enforcement with the practical challenges credit unions face.