In a November 9 comment letter, the American Bankers Association and Consumers Bankers Association have renewed their objections to the CFPB’s  request to the Office of Management and Budget seeking generic clearance of the CFPB’s collection of information on compliance costs and other effects of regulations.    

In June, the CFPB solicited comments on its information collection plans in anticipation of the request to OMB and the ABA and CBA filed a joint comment letter opposing the CFPB’s use of a generic clearance to obtain compliance cost information.  In their latest joint comment letter, which responds to the CFPB’s notice published on October 10 seeking comments on its request to OMB, the ABA and CBA urge the CFPB to withdraw, or OMB to deny, the request for generic clearance. 

The ABA and CBA once again assert that a generic clearance is inappropriate in view of the significant substantive and policy implications of the information to be collected by the CFPB.  The trade groups contend that a generic clearance will deny the public and industry an opportunity to comment on the design of surveys, interviews or focus groups that the CFPB plans to use to collect information and the informal opportunities for selected entities to comment promised by the CFPB is insufficient as such selected entities may not adequately represent overall public interest.  The ABA and CBA also note their concern with statements made by the CFPB suggesting it does not plan to give the public access to the aggregate results of its information collections and assert that the possibility only selected data will be available “underscores the need for robust public and industry feedback on the design of information collection instruments and the selection of respondents to ensure that accurate and representative data are collected.”