U.S. Senators Urge CFPB to Hasten Regulation B Rulemaking (with Lofchie Comment)

Nineteen U.S. Senators (the "Senators") sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") encouraging it to move forward with its rulemaking on publicly available small business loan data.

Regulation B is required by Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act ("Small Business Data Collection"). It is listed on the CFPB's Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan as a Long-Term Action item under development. The Senators asserted that the implementation of Regulation B may help to improve lending practices, and that particular attention should be paid to aiding businesses that operate and employ workers in underserved areas. The Senators stated that the adoption of Regulation B would "help identify the credit needs of women-owned, minority-owned and all small businesses."

Lofchie Comment: Perhaps the adoption of Regulation B will prove to be a meaningful strategy for helping small businesses, as opposed to a boon to plaintiffs' lawyers. That said, there might be better and more direct ways (or other ways, at least) to help small businesses; e.g., by considering which costs hit such businesses the hardest and the sources of those costs.

See:Senate CFPB Letter; Dodd-Frank Act Section 1071.