CFPB & States Focus on Small Business Lending

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's ("CFPB" or "Bureau") May 10, 2017 field hearing and issuance of a Request for Information ("RFI") regarding the small business lending market, particularly credit issues facing small businesses owned by women and minorities, have stirred worries about new regulatory burdens on this sector. Yet this action is but a first step in the implementation of the data collection requirements of Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act, and a final rule will be long in coming. A far more immediate threat looms in the CFPB and the States' increasing focus on small business loans, especially fair lending enforcement, independent of the Section 1071 rulemaking.