Breaking News: CFPB Postpones Prepaid Rules until May 2014 (Dec. 6, 2013)
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau won’t issue its proposed rules for GPR prepaid cards until May of 2014, according to the agency’s updated rulemaking agenda posted this week. The agenda lays to rest industry speculation that proposed rules would be issued by year’s end.
The CFPB’s decision to issue proposed rules in May could signal that the agency’s initial timeline was too aggressive, according to Stefanie H. Jackman, litigation associate at Ballard Spahr and member of the firm’s consumer financial services group.
“But, it also could mean that the CFPB wants to take more time with the issues or comments that have been submitted before making any decisions,” Jackman tells Paybefore. “In the mortgage rulemaking process this year, the CFPB took more time to consider comments from the industry regarding potential impacts, and I think that ultimately benefited the industry,” she explains. “Based on that prior experience, the delay signals interest by the CFPB with regard to some of the industry’s concerns or believe they require further consideration.”
The proposed rules are scheduled two years to the month from when the CFPB issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) hours before the agency’s first field hearing on prepaid cards.
