Joint Comments to CFPB on the Auto Finance Data Project

To Whom it May Concern:

The American Bankers Association, American Financial Services Association, America’s Credit Unions, Consumer Bankers Association, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce (the "Associations") write in regard to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Paperwork Reduction Act request for comment regarding its proposed new information collection titled "Auto Finance Data Project." Congress enacted the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) to ensure that, when a federal agency collects information from the public, the information collection provides practical benefit to the agency and minimizes the burden on respondents. As such, the Associations urge the CFPB to abandon the new information collection because: (1) the CFPB lacks the legal authority to collect the information; and (2) the CFPB grossly underestimates the burden of the information collection.

I. Summary of Proposed Data Collection

As required by the PRA, the CFPB has published a notice and request for comment regarding a proposal to collect annually a set of data from lenders that originate greater than 20,000 auto loans in the previous calendar year (Notice). The Bureau states that the data collection would mirror the Auto Finance Data Pilot ("Auto Finance Data Pilot" or "Data Pilot"). In the Data Pilot, nine lenders were compelled by the CFPB using its market monitoring authority in Section 1022(c)(4) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) to provide a substantial amount of data for all financing originated or serviced over a five-year period. The data included, but is not limited to, the following:

• the total price of the vehicle,
• all fees,
• any voluntary products,
• all the loan terms,
• the dealer reserve amount,
• both the loan-to-value and payment-to-income ratios,
• the brand of vehicle,
• whether the vehicle was new or used,
• information on the dealer,
• information on the borrower such as credit score and income,
• the military status of the borrower,
• information on the co-borrower,
• information on whether the loan was paid off,
• whether the vehicle was repossessed,
• and any information about that repossession, and
• consumer complaints.

The CFPB also proposes to collect annually a more limited data set from lenders that originated greater than 500 loans and fewer than 20,000 loans in the previous calendar year. These lenders would be required to submit information on the number of vehicles repossessed and the number of loan modifications.

However, the CFPB's notice does not include the survey instrument to be used in this newly proposed collection. Instead, the Bureau simply states that the collection will mirror the Data Pilot. The lack of access to the survey instrument for this new information collection significantly impedes the Associations' ability to offer comments and address the questions posed by the CFPB in the Notice.

Download the joint comment letter to read the full text.