The Office of Foreign Assets Control has added six names to its list of individuals whose property and interests in property are blocked.  The names were added pursuant to Executive Order 13224.  Get the names from the Federal Register Announcement Here.

CUNA has urged the Internal Revenue Service to consider a number of options for reducing credit unions' compliance burden under IRS Form 990.  State-chartered credit unions are required to file Form 990 with the IRS annually, although a few states still permit group 990 filings. Federal credit unions are not required to file, since they are not subject to unrelated business income taxes.

The IRS requires Form 990 filers to disclose the names and compensation of certain key employees such as directors, their 20 highest compensated non-executive employees, any independent contractors that work for the firm, and former high ranking or key employees. However, the reporting thresholds for these positions differ somewhat from position to position.  Read More…

The third draft of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) combined form for Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) disclosures will be released next week, the CFPB said last Thursday.

The combined form is required under the Dodd-Frank Act and is intended to reduce mortgage lender regulatory burden and make mortgage disclosures less confusing to consumers. The CFPB has released and collected comment on two separate drafts of a simplified mortgage disclosure form. The agency said it has received more than 18,000 comments since the first draft of the combined form was released in May.  Read More…

Credit unions that wish to take part in the National Credit Union Administration's voluntary Corporate Stabilization Fund assessment prepayment plan must notify the agency of their intent by the end of the day. Read More...

NCUA is amending its rules to conform to the amendments made in the Federal Credit Union Act (FCU Act) by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) which became effective Wednesday, July 27th.

The interim final rule adds remittance transfers, as now defined under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), as an example of money transfer instruments Federal credit unions (FCUs) may provide to persons within their fields of membership.  Read More…

NCUA is proposing to amend its credit union service organization (CUSO) regulation to address certain safety and soundness concerns.

The proposal will expand the requirements of the CUSO regulation that applies to federally insured state-chartered credit unions (FISCUs) and will include investment limits for FISCUs that are ``less than adequately capitalized'' and requirements related to accounting and reporting by CUSOs owned by FISCUs.  Read  More…

NCUA is amending its rules to conform to the amendments made in the Federal Credit Union Act (FCU Act) by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) which became effective Wednesday, July 27th.

The interim final rule adds remittance transfers, as now defined under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), as an example of money transfer instruments Federal credit unions (FCUs) may provide to persons within their fields of membership.  Read More…

Today,  the Federal Trade Commission published in the Federal Register a notice of rescission of its commentary and interpretive rulings to its rules under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  The Commission stated that the rescission was based primarily upon the fact that the commentary was “stale” and, in some cases, even in conflict with current law.  The FTC’s rule making and enforcement authority for the FCRA was transferred to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on July 21, 2011.  It will now be up to the CFPB to issue guidance and interpretations on the rules, and credit unions should no longer rely upon guidance previously issued by the Commission.  The Association will let credit unions know when the CFPB issues any such guidance or interpretation.

MADISON, Wis. (7/25/11)--A provision of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that took effect Thursday will double the amount of money financial institutions make available to customers after they deposit a check. That could create more risk for financial institutions, including credit unions, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) said in USA TODAY Thursday. Read More...

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) officially receives enforcement authority for many consumer protection-related regulations from various agencies.  Most notably for credit unions, the CFPB will now have enforcement authority over NCUA Regulations 707 (Truth in Savings), 716 (Privacy of Consumer Financial Information), 717 (Fair Credit Reporting) and 761 (Registration of Mortgage Loan Originators).  The CFPB will also have enforcement authority over other familiar regulations including Regulation B (Equal Credit Opportunity), Regulation C (Home Mortgage Disclosure), Regulation E (Electronic Funds Transfers) and Regulation Z (Truth in Lending).

In the July 21, 2011 Federal Register, the CFPB stated that “[t]he official commentary, guidance, and policy statements issued prior to July 21, 2011 by a transferor agency [w]ill be applied by the CFPB pending further CFPB action.”  This means that credit unions can continue to rely on “official” guidance, commentary and interpretation issued by the agencies formerly having enforcement authority over the particular regulation until the CFPB officially issues any conflicting information.  The CFPB also stated that it intends to publish a list of the rules for which it has rulemaking authority later this year.  Click here to view the Federal Register announcement.