This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents. Prices of

new books are listed in the first FEDERAL

REGISTER issue of each week.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

21153 

Vol. 80, No. 74 

Friday, April 17, 2015 

1Section 1026.58 uses the terms card issuer (or 

issuer) and credit card agreement (or agreement) in 

lieu of the terms creditor and open-end consumer 

credit card plan, respectively, that are used in 

section 122(d) of TILA. 

2 80 FR 10417 (Feb. 26, 2015). 

3Public Law 111–24, 123 Stat. 1734 (2009). 

MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION 

BOARD 

5 CFR Part 1201 

Practices and Procedures 

AGENCY: Merit Systems Protection 

Board. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Merit Systems Protection 

Board (MSPB or the Board) hereby 

amends its rules of practice and 

procedure in order to correct a minor 

drafting error in the Board’s regulations. 

DATES: Effective April 17, 2015. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

William D. Spencer, Clerk of the Board, 

Merit Systems Protection Board, 1615 M 

Street NW., Washington, DC 20419; 

phone: (202) 653–7200; fax: (202) 653– 

7130; or email: mspb@mspb.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

October 12, 2012, the MSPB published 

a final rule that made numerous 

amendments to its regulations. 77 FR 

62350. In making these amendments, 

the MSPB inadvertently repeated the 

language of 5 CFR 1201.183(c)(2) in 5 

CFR 1201.183(c)(3). Accordingly, the 

Board now removes 5 CFR 

1201.183(c)(3) as unnecessary and 

duplicative. 

This amendment removing 5 CFR 

1201.183(c)(3) corrects a minor drafting 

error and makes no substantive change 

to the MSPB’s regulations. As a result, 

the Board finds good cause to forego 

notice and comment rulemaking and to 

make this final rule effective upon 

publication. 

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 1201 

Administrative practice and 

procedure. 

Accordingly, for the reasons set forth 

in the preamble, the Board amends 5 

CFR part 1201 as follows: 

PART 1201—PRACTICES AND 

PROCEDURES 

■ 1. The authority citation for 5 CFR 

part 1201 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 1204, 1305, and 7701, 

and 38 U.S.C. 4331, unless otherwise noted. 

§ 1201.183 [Amended] 

■ 2. Amend § 1201.183 by removing 

paragraph (c)(3). 

William D. Spencer, 

Clerk of the Board. 

[FR Doc. 2015–08880 Filed 4–16–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7400–01–P 

BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL 

PROTECTION 

12 CFR Part 1026 

[Docket No. CFPB–2015–0006] 

RIN 3170–AA50 

Submission of Credit Card Agreements 

Under the Truth in Lending Act 

(Regulation Z) 

AGENCY: Bureau of Consumer Financial 

Protection. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Consumer 

Financial Protection (Bureau) is 

amending Regulation Z, which 

implements the Truth in Lending Act, 

and the official interpretation to that 

regulation, to temporarily suspend card 

issuers’ obligations to submit credit card 

agreements to the Bureau for a period of 

one year (i.e., four quarterly 

submissions), in order to reduce burden 

while the Bureau works to develop a 

more streamlined and automated 

electronic submission system. Other 

requirements, including card issuers’ 

obligations to post currently-offered 

agreements on their own Web sites, 

remain unaffected. 

DATES: This final rule is effective on 

April 17, 2015. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Thomas L. Devlin, Counsel, or Kristine 

M. Andreassen, Senior Counsel, Office 

of Regulations, at (202) 435–7700. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Summary of the Rule 

The Truth in Lending Act (TILA), in 

section 122(d), requires creditors to post 

agreements for open-end consumer 

credit card plans on the creditors’ Web 

sites and to submit those agreements to 

the Bureau. 15 U.S.C. 1632(d). These 

provisions are implemented in 

§ 1026.58 of Regulation Z.1 12 CFR 

1026.58. The Bureau is finalizing 

amendments that it proposed in 

February 2015 2 to suspend temporarily 

the requirement in § 1026.58(c) that card 

issuers submit credit card agreements to 

the Bureau for a period of one year (i.e., 

four quarterly submissions), in order to 

reduce burden while the Bureau works 

to develop a more streamlined and 

automated electronic submission 

system. Specifically, the Bureau is 

suspending the submissions that would 

otherwise have been due to the Bureau 

by the first business day on or after 

April 30, 2015; July 31, 2015; October 

31, 2015; and January 31, 2016. 

Beginning with the submission due on 

the first business day on or after April 

30, 2016, card issuers shall resume 

submitting credit card agreements on a 

quarterly basis to the Bureau. The 

Bureau expects to consult with 

interested stakeholders before that date 

regarding resumption of the submission 

requirements and technical 

specifications for the new system. Other 

requirements under § 1026.58, including 

card issuers’ obligations to post 

currently-offered agreements on their 

own Web sites under § 1026.58(d), 

remain unaffected. 

II. Background 

A. The Statute and Regulation 

In 2009, Congress enhanced 

protections for credit cards in the Credit 

Card Accountability Responsibility and 

Disclosure Act (CARD Act), which it 

enacted to ‘‘establish fair and 

transparent practices related to the 

extension of credit’’ in the credit card 

market.3 The Board of Governors of the 

Federal Reserve System (Board) 

generally implemented the CARD Act’s 

provisions in subpart G of Regulation Z. 

Section 204 of the CARD Act added new 

TILA section 122(d) to require creditors 

to post agreements for open-end 

consumer credit card plans on the 


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21154 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 74 / Friday, April 17, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 

4Public Law 111–203, section 1100A, 124 Stat. 

2081 (2010) (codified at 15 U.S.C. 1602 et seq.). 5 76 FR 79768 (Dec. 22, 2011). 

6The Bureau’s database of credit card agreements 

is available at http://www.consumerfinance.gov/

credit-cards/agreements/. 

7See, e.g., CFPB, CARD Act Report, at 13–14 (Oct. 

1, 2013), available at http:// 

files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201309_cfpb_card-actreport.pdf. 

creditors’ Web sites and to submit those 

agreements to the Board for posting on 

a publicly available Web site established 

and maintained by the Board. 15 U.S.C. 

1632(d). 

Specifically, TILA section 122(d)(1) 

requires each creditor to post its credit 

card agreements on its own Web site, 

and section 122(d)(2) requires the 

creditor to provide its agreements to the 

Bureau (formerly the Board). TILA 

section 122(d)(3) requires the Bureau 

(formerly the Board) to establish and 

maintain on its publicly available Web 

site a central repository of the 

agreements it receives under section 

122(d)(2). The Board implemented these 

provisions in 12 CFR 226.58. With the 

adoption of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street 

Reform and Consumer Protection Act 

(Dodd-Frank Act), authority to 

implement TILA transferred to the 

Bureau 4 and the Bureau renumbered 

this provision in Regulation Z as 

§ 1026.58.5

While TILA section 122(d) requires 

that creditors provide agreements to the 

Bureau, it does not specify the 

frequency or timing for these 

submissions. The implementing 

regulations in Regulation Z provide that 

submission of currently-offered 

agreements must be made quarterly. See 

§ 1026.58(c)(1). These quarterly 

submissions must be sent to the Bureau 

no later than the first business day on 

or after January 31, April 30, July 31, 

and October 31 of each year. The 

regulation also provides that, except in 

certain circumstances, card issuers must 

post and maintain on their publicly 

available Web sites the credit card 

agreements that the issuers are required 

to submit to the Bureau. See 

§ 1026.58(d). 

Under the current process, which has 

been used by the Bureau since its 

inception, card issuers submit 

agreements and agreement information 

to the Bureau manually via email. The 

Bureau believes this process may be 

unnecessarily cumbersome for issuers 

and may make issuers’ own internal 

tracking of previously submitted 

agreements difficult. In addition, the 

current process for Bureau staff to 

manually review, catalog, and upload 

new or revised agreements to the 

Bureau’s Web site, and to remove 

outdated agreements, can extend for 

several months after the quarterly 

submission deadline.6 The Bureau is 

working to develop a more streamlined 

and automated electronic submission 

system which would allow issuers to 

upload agreements directly to the 

Bureau’s database. The Bureau intends 

for its new submission system to be less 

burdensome and easier for issuers to 

use. It also intends for the new system 

to enable faster posting of new and 

revised agreements on the Bureau’s Web 

site. 

In order to reduce the burden on card 

issuers of continuing to use manual 

submission methods while the Bureau 

works to design, test, and implement a 

more streamlined and automated 

electronic submission system, the 

Bureau is temporarily suspending 

issuers’ obligations to submit credit card 

agreements to the Bureau for a period of 

one year (i.e., four quarterly 

submissions), as described in more 

detail in the section-by-section analysis 

below. Issuers’ obligations to post 

currently-offered agreements on their 

own Web sites are unaffected. 

The Bureau recognizes that its 

temporary suspension of the 

requirement that card issuers submit 

credit card agreements to the Bureau 

will temporarily reduce the access 

consumers, other external parties, and 

the Bureau itself have to a single 

repository of the agreements that would 

have been submitted during this oneyear period. However, the Bureau 

expects that this temporary reduction 

will not impose significant costs on 

consumers, other external parties, or the 

Bureau itself for at least two key 

reasons. First, the Bureau is not 

modifying the requirement that card 

issuers post currently-offered 

agreements on their own Web sites in a 

manner that is prominent and readily 

accessible by the public (§ 1026.58(d)) 

or that card issuers make all open 

agreements available on their Web sites 

or to cardholders upon request 

(§ 1026.58(e)). 

Second, the Bureau intends to 

manually compile credit card 

agreements from certain large card 

issuers’ Web sites as of approximately 

September 2015. Given the longstanding 

concentration in the credit card market, 

the Bureau believes that uploading 

agreements obtained from a relatively 

small number of issuers’ Web sites to 

the Bureau’s own Web site is sufficient 

to provide the agreement terms available 

to the overwhelming majority of credit 

card consumers in the U.S. as of the 

mid-point of the proposed suspension 

period.7 This will allow consumers to 

continue to use the Bureau’s Web site to 

effectively compare agreements offered 

by various issuers. 

Overall, the Bureau expects that the 

marginal costs to consumers and other 

external parties from interrupted access 

during the suspension period are 

outweighed by the anticipated benefits 

of increased usability of the agreements 

and expedited availability of agreements 

on the Bureau’s Web site after the 

Bureau implements a more streamlined 

and automated submission system. The 

Bureau intends to explore potential 

functionality for the new system that 

would improve external parties’ ability 

to use the information efficiently and 

effectively, such as through improved 

reporting capabilities. In addition, by 

streamlining the submission process, 

the Bureau intends for the new system 

to also reduce burden on card issuers. 

B. Comments on the Proposed Rule 

On February 26, 2015, the Bureau 

proposed to amend § 1026.58, the 

Regulation Z provision on internet 

availability of credit card agreements, to 

temporarily suspend the requirement in 

§ 1026.58(c) that card issuers submit 

credit card agreements to the Bureau for 

a period of one year (i.e., four quarterly 

submissions), in order to reduce burden 

while the Bureau works to develop a 

more streamlined and automated 

electronic submission system. The 

comment period closed on March 13, 

2015. In response to the proposal, the 

Bureau received seven comments from 

financial institutions, credit union trade 

associations, and others. The Bureau 

discusses relevant comments in the 

section-by-section analysis below. 

Several commenters also urged the 

Bureau to take other actions beyond the 

scope of the proposal. 

III. Legal Authority 

The Bureau is issuing this final rule 

pursuant to its authority under TILA 

sections 105(a) and 122(d)(5). TILA 

section 105(a) authorizes the Bureau to 

prescribe regulations to carry out the 

purposes of TILA. These regulations 

may contain such classifications, 

differentiations, or other provisions, and 

may provide for such adjustments and 

exceptions for any class of transactions, 

that in the Bureau’s judgment are 

necessary or proper to effectuate the 

purposes of TILA, facilitate compliance 

with TILA, or prevent circumvention or 

evasion of TILA. TILA section 122(d)(5) 

authorizes the Bureau to promulgate 

regulations to implement section 122(d), 

including, among other things, 

establishing exceptions to TILA sections 

122(d)(1) and (2) in any case where the 


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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 74 / Friday, April 17, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 21155 

8As noted above, the submission requirement 

was mandated by Congress’s amendments to TILA 

in the CARD Act. 

9 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1). 

administrative burden outweighs the 

benefits of increased transparency. 

The Bureau is exercising its 

rulemaking authority pursuant to TILA 

sections 105(a) and 122(d)(5) to, in 

effect, change the period for creditors’ 

submission of agreements to the Bureau 

from quarterly to annually, for a period 

of one year. The Bureau is also 

exercising its exception authority under 

TILA sections 105(a) and 122(d)(5) to 

temporarily suspend the agreement 

submission requirements in 

§ 1026.58(c), as it concludes that the 

burden to issuers of continuing to 

submit agreements under the current 

cumbersome, manual process while the 

Bureau works to develop a more 

streamlined and automated electronic 

submission system outweighs the 

benefits of transparency to consumers 

and other external parties of access to 

those agreements via the Bureau’s Web 

site during the suspension period. 

Further, the Bureau believes that a 

temporary suspension will effectuate 

the purposes of TILA and facilitate 

compliance therewith. 

IV. Section-by-Section Analysis 

Regulation Z 

Subpart G—Special Rules Applicable to 

Credit Card Accounts and Open-End 

Credit Offered to College Students 

Section 1026.58 Internet Posting of 

Credit Card Agreements 58(g) 

Temporary Suspension of Agreement 

Submission Requirement Proposed Rule 

As discussed above, § 1026.58 

describes how card issuers must comply 

with the provisions of TILA, as 

amended by the CARD Act, that require 

creditors to post agreements for openend consumer credit card plans on the 

creditors’ Web sites and to submit those 

agreements to the Bureau. Specifically, 

§ 1026.58(c) governs submission of 

agreements to the Bureau, § 1026.58(d) 

governs the requirement that issuers 

post currently-offered agreements on the 

issuers’ own Web sites, and § 1026.58(e) 

governs the requirement that issuers 

make cardholder agreements for 

currently open accounts available to 

cardholders. 

In the proposed rule, the Bureau 

proposed to add § 1026.58(g) to 

§ 1026.58. The Bureau proposed, in 

§ 1026.58(g)(1), to temporarily suspend 

the quarterly credit card agreement 

submission requirement in § 1026.58(c) 

for submissions that would otherwise be 

due to the Bureau by the first business 

day on or after April 30, 2015; July 31, 

2015; October 31, 2015; and January 31, 

2016. The Bureau proposed to add 

comments 58(g)–1 and –2 to further 

clarify the terms of the suspension, and 

to explain in more detail what issuers 

must include in their submissions due 

on the first business day on or after 

April 30, 2016. 

Section 1026.58(d) requires a card 

issuer to post and maintain on its 

publicly available Web site the credit 

card agreements that the issuer is 

required to submit to the Bureau under 

§ 1026.58(c). The Bureau proposed 

§ 1026.58(g)(2) to provide that the 

suspended submission requirement in 

proposed § 1026.58(g)(1) would not 

affect card issuers’ obligations to post 

agreements on their own Web sites as 

required by § 1026.58(d) during the 

temporary suspension period. The 

Bureau proposed comment 58(g)–3 to 

further explain this provision and 

provide several examples. 

Comments 

The Bureau solicited comment on its 

proposal to temporarily suspend the 

obligation card issuers would otherwise 

have had under § 1026.58(c) to submit 

credit card agreements to the Bureau for 

the four quarterly submissions that 

would otherwise be due to the Bureau 

by the first business day on or after 

April 30, 2015; July 31, 2015; October 

31, 2015; and January 31, 2016. 

Commenters generally supported the 

proposed rule, and no commenter 

opposed the proposed temporary 

suspension. All of the trade association 

commenters stated that they found the 

current manual submission system for 

credit card agreements to be 

cumbersome. Those same commenters, 

along with others, agreed that issuers’ 

continuing obligation to post currentlyoffered credit card agreements on their 

Web sites would ensure that most 

interested consumers could access 

available credit card agreements. 

Trade association commenters urged 

that the Bureau should consult with 

financial institutions before finalizing 

new technical specifications for the 

submission of credit card agreements, 

including one commenter who 

supported releasing those specifications 

through the notice-and-comment 

process. The Bureau did not solicit 

comment regarding the technical 

specifications that will be associated 

with a new submission system; 

nonetheless, the Bureau expects to 

consult with financial institutions, trade 

associations, or both to test and refine 

the system before using it with industry 

generally. The Bureau does not 

anticipate soliciting comment regarding 

the technical specifications that will be 

associated with a new submission 

system. 

A commenter from an academic 

public policy center suggested that, 

rather than temporarily suspending the 

submission requirement for a period of 

one year, the Bureau should remove the 

submission requirement entirely.8

One commenter addressed an option 

that the Bureau considered but 

ultimately did not propose, under 

which credit card issuers would be 

required, at the end of the one-year 

suspension period, to submit all 

agreements that they would have been 

required to submit during the 

suspension period. That commenter 

argued that the burden imposed by such 

a requirement would not be justified by 

the limited benefit resulting from a more 

complete database of agreements. 

Final Rule 

The Bureau is adopting § 1026.58(g), 

and the proposed commentary to that 

section, as proposed. As noted above, 

none of the comments received opposed 

the one-year temporary suspension, and 

most supported the Bureau’s efforts to 

develop a more streamlined and 

efficient electronic submission system 

for credit card agreements. None of the 

comments discussed the specific 

language of the proposed regulatory text 

or commentary. After reviewing the 

comments received in response to the 

proposal, the Bureau believes that a oneyear suspension represents the best 

balance between fulfilling the 

Congressional mandate in TILA section 

122(d) and easing the compliance 

burden on credit card issuers arising 

from the manual submission system 

inherited by the Bureau while the 

Bureau works to develop a more 

streamlined and automated electronic 

submission system. 

V. Effective Date 

The Bureau proposed to make its 

temporary suspension of § 1026.58(c) 

effective immediately after publication 

of this final rule in the Federal Register. 

The Bureau sought comment on the 

proposed effective date, including on 

whether a later effective date would be 

more appropriate. None of the 

comments received by the Bureau 

explicitly addressed the proposed 

effective date. 

An agency must allow 30 days before 

a substantive rule is made effective, 

unless, among other things, the rule 

‘‘grants or recognizes an exemption or 

relieves a restriction’’ 9 or ‘‘as otherwise 

provided by the agency for good cause 


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21156 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 74 / Friday, April 17, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 

10 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). 

11Specifically, section 1022(b)(2)(A) of the DoddFrank Act calls for the Bureau to consider the 

potential benefits and costs of a regulation to 

consumers and covered persons, including the 

potential reduction of access by consumers to 

consumer financial products or services; the impact 

on depository institutions and credit unions with 

$10 billion or less in total assets as described in 

section 1026 of the Dodd-Frank Act; and the impact 

on consumers in rural areas. 

12The Bureau notes that card issuers who submit 

a smaller number of agreements to the Bureau, but 

that only submit new and amended agreements and 

notice of withdrawn agreements, may have higher 

compliance costs than issuers who resubmit each 

quarter all agreements that are currently available 

to consumers. Thus, using the number of 

agreements submitted each quarter does not strictly 

track compliance cost. However, the Bureau expects 

that the number of agreements submitted and 

compliance cost are correlated even for those who 

submit all available agreements each quarter 

because they still have to ensure they are not 

found and published with the rule.’’ 10

The Bureau believes that this rule 

recognizes an exemption from or 

relieves a restriction on issuers’ 

obligations to submit credit card 

agreements to the Bureau, and does not 

create any new requirement. 

Accordingly, the 30-day delay in 

effective date does not apply and the 

Bureau finds good cause to make this 

rule effective immediately upon 

publication in the Federal Register, in 

order to reduce burden while the 

Bureau works to develop a more 

streamlined and automated electronic 

submission system for credit card 

agreements. 

VI. Section 1022(b)(2) of the DoddFrank Act 

A. Overview 

In developing this rule, the Bureau 

has considered potential benefits, costs, 

and impacts.11 The Bureau has 

consulted, or offered to consult with, 

the prudential regulators, the 

Department of the Treasury, and the 

Federal Trade Commission, including 

regarding consistency with any 

prudential, market, or systemic 

objectives administered by such 

agencies. 

Pursuant to TILA section 122(d)(3), 

the Bureau maintains on its public Web 

site a repository of the consumer credit 

card agreements that card issuers submit 

pursuant to TILA section 122(d)(2), as 

implemented in § 1026.58(c). The 

electronic folders in the repository are 

organized by quarter, back to the third 

quarter of 2011, reflecting the transfer of 

authority to implement TILA from the 

Board to the Bureau pursuant to the 

Dodd-Frank Act. For each quarter, the 

repository contains a copy of each 

agreement, in PDF format, that was 

available to consumers as of the end of 

that quarter. The repository also 

contains, for each quarter, a spreadsheet 

that provides certain identifying 

information about each agreement and 

the issuer thereof. 

The Bureau proposed to amend 

§ 1026.58(g) to temporarily suspend the 

requirement in § 1026.58(c) for card 

issuers to submit credit card agreements 

to the Bureau. The Bureau is finalizing 

the amendments to § 1026.58(g) as 

proposed. Card issuers will not be 

required to make quarterly submissions 

to the Bureau for the submissions that 

would otherwise be due by the first 

business day on or after April 30, 2015; 

July 31, 2015; October 31, 2015; and 

January 31, 2016. Consequently, the 

Bureau will not provide these 

agreements on its Web site. As 

discussed previously, however, the 

Bureau intends to manually compile 

credit card agreements from certain 

large card issuer Web sites as of 

approximately September 2015 and post 

those agreements on its Web site. Card 

issuers will resume submitting 

agreements on a quarterly basis to the 

Bureau beginning with the submission 

due by the first business day on or after 

April 30, 2016. The Bureau is not 

modifying the requirement that card 

issuers post currently-offered 

agreements on their own Web sites in a 

manner that is prominent and readily 

accessible by the public (§ 1026.58(d)) 

or that card issuers make all open 

agreements available on their Web sites 

or to cardholders upon request 

(§ 1026.58(e)). 

B. Potential Benefits and Costs to 

Consumers and Covered Persons 

The Bureau is not aware of any 

significant costs to consumers that 

might arise from the temporary 

suspension of the quarterly submission 

requirement and the absence of these 

agreements on the Bureau’s Web site. 

While the Bureau’s Web site can assist 

consumers in comparing credit card 

agreements when shopping for a new 

card, the Bureau believes that most 

consumers are not likely to use the 

repository to identify desirable credit 

cards, in part because they would not 

know if they qualified for the cards they 

identified. The Bureau believes that 

consumers are more likely to identify a 

number of cards for which they qualify 

before comparing the terms and 

conditions for those cards. These terms 

and conditions will remain readily 

available to consumers on the issuers’ 

Web sites. Similarly, a consumer who 

wanted to replace a lost agreement 

would likely find it easier to contact the 

issuer than to search the repository 

because the agreement might no longer 

be available to new cardholders, in 

which case the consumer would need to 

search across multiple quarters to find 

the agreement, and even then might lack 

confidence that she had found the 

version of the agreement that applied to 

her. 

On the other hand, the Bureau 

recognizes that consumers who would 

qualify for almost any card on the 

market and who want to learn about the 

features of a large number of products 

might find the repository useful. The 

final rule might increase the cost to 

these consumers of searching for 

desirable credit cards. The Bureau 

believes that this cost would be small, 

however, given that the Bureau is 

suspending the submission requirement 

for just four quarters. In addition, as 

discussed in more detail below, the 

Bureau will manually collect 

agreements from certain large issuers’ 

Web sites at the midpoint of the 

suspension period, which will mitigate 

this cost to consumers. The Bureau 

requested comment on this point but 

did not receive any responses. 

Similarly, the Bureau recognizes the 

possibility that entities may use the 

information in the repository to develop 

more competitive products or extract 

information that they could sell or 

otherwise provide to consumers or third 

parties. However, the Bureau believes 

that this is unlikely given that the 

agreements, while generally in 

searchable PDF format, do not contain 

uniform data or text fields that would 

provide the same type of information in 

fixed locations across files. The Bureau 

requested comment on this point as well 

but did not receive any responses. A 

commenter from an academic public 

policy center noted that the information 

that these entities need would remain 

on the issuers’ Web sites. 

The Bureau believes that the final rule 

will provide issuers with a minor but 

tangible benefit. For the third quarter of 

2014, 446 issuers had 1,833 agreements 

in the Bureau’s database. While 169 

issuers had just one agreement, the 

median number of agreements per issuer 

was two and the average was four. Four 

issuers had over 50 agreements. In the 

third quarter alone, 103 issuers 

submitted 429 agreements; the median 

and mean were again two and four, 

respectively. Three issuers submitted 

over 25 agreements. All issuers will be 

able to suspend their submissions for 

four quarters, which will remove some 

compliance burden. The Bureau 

believes that the burden is small on 

average, although it may be higher for 

the entities that provide a large number 

of agreements.12 The Bureau requested 


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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 74 / Friday, April 17, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 21157 

sending agreements that are no longer offered to 

new customers or are entirely defunct. 

comment on this point but did not 

receive any responses. 

As noted above, the Bureau 

recognizes the possibility that entities 

could use the information in the 

repository to develop more competitive 

products or extract information that 

they could sell or otherwise provide to 

consumers or third parties. However, as 

mentioned above, the Bureau believes 

that this is unlikely given the 

difficulties in using files in PDF format 

for this purpose. To the extent that 

entities are inclined to use the files in 

the repository to extract information, the 

Bureau believes that manual collection 

of the credit card agreements from 

certain large card issuer Web sites as of 

approximately September 2015 and 

posting those agreements on the Bureau 

Web site will mitigate the impact of the 

proposed rule on these entities. 

A commenter from an academic 

public policy center argued that the 

submission and record repository 

requirements in TILA sections 

122(d)(2)–(3), implemented in 

§ 1026.58(c), impose costs without 

evidence of benefits (and most likely 

with few benefits). This commenter 

recommended that the Bureau suspend 

the submission requirement 

permanently instead of temporarily. The 

commenter did not, however, dispute 

the Bureau’s consideration of the 

benefits and costs of § 1026.58(g) 

relative to the baseline defined by the 

current statute and implementing 

regulation. More generally, the Bureau 

seeks through this rulemaking and the 

associated development of a more 

streamlined and automated electronic 

submission system to increase the 

benefits and reduce the costs of the 

submission and repository 

requirements, and is not considering 

other changes at this time. 

As an alternative, the Bureau 

considered coupling the temporary 

suspension with a requirement to 

provide the Bureau, after the suspension 

expired, with the agreements that they 

would have been required to submit if 

not for the suspension. Compared to the 

final rule, this alternative would have 

imposed smaller costs on consumers 

and provided smaller benefits to issuers. 

Since the costs to consumers under the 

final rule are small to begin with, the 

Bureau believes that the final rule is 

superior to the alternative. A commenter 

from an academic public policy center 

opposed this alternative, arguing that 

the additional compliance costs 

associated with requiring issuers to 

collect and submit the additional 

agreement was not justified by the 

marginal benefit to consumers. 

C. Impact on Covered Persons With No 

More Than $10 Billion in Assets 

The majority of banks and credit 

unions that provide agreements under 

§ 1026.58(c) have no more than $10 

billion in assets. Thus, the majority of 

banks and credit unions that will benefit 

from the final rule have no more than 

$10 billion in assets. On the other hand, 

larger banks and credit unions generally 

provide the Bureau with more 

agreements each quarter. Thus, the final 

rule will generally provide larger banks 

and credit unions with a greater 

reduction in burden compared to that 

obtained by banks and credit unions 

with no more than $10 billion in assets. 

One trade association commenter 

noted the discussion of these effects in 

the proposal and urged the Bureau to 

consider the implementation and 

ongoing costs associated with the new 

process. As explained in the 

Background section of the proposed 

rule, the Bureau intends for its new 

submission system to be less 

burdensome and easier for issuers to 

use. Thus, the Bureau intends the new 

system to reduce ongoing costs to 

covered persons relative to the baseline. 

The Bureau expects that any one-time 

transition cost will be small and quickly 

recovered through lower ongoing costs. 

D. Impact on Access to Credit 

The Bureau does not believe that 

there will be an adverse impact on 

access to credit, or any other consumer 

financial products or services, resulting 

from the final rule. The final rule 

imposes no direct requirements on 

consumer financial products or services 

or providers of consumer financial 

products or services or on the eligibility 

of consumers for consumer financial 

products or services. As discussed 

above, the final rule imposes at most a 

minor additional cost on certain 

consumers searching for a credit card. 

As noted above, the Bureau 

recognizes the possibility that entities 

could use the information in the 

repository to develop more competitive 

products or extract information that 

they could sell or otherwise provide to 

consumers or third parties. However, 

the Bureau believes that this is unlikely 

given the difficulties in using files in 

PDF format for this purpose and the fact 

that the suspension would last for just 

four quarters. Thus, the final rule 

should not inhibit activities that would 

improve access to credit such as the 

development of more competitive credit 

products or products that would reduce 

search costs. 

E. Impact on Consumers in Rural Areas 

The Bureau does not believe that the 

final rule will have a unique impact on 

consumers in rural areas. 

VII. Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), 

as amended by the Small Business 

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 

1996, requires each agency to consider 

the potential impact of its regulations on 

small entities, including small 

businesses, small governmental units, 

and small nonprofit organizations. The 

RFA defines a ‘‘small business’’ as a 

business that meets the size standard 

developed by the Small Business 

Administration pursuant to the Small 

Business Act. 

The RFA generally requires an agency 

to conduct an initial regulatory 

flexibility analysis (IRFA) and a final 

regulatory flexibility analysis (FRFA) of 

any rule subject to notice-and-comment 

rulemaking requirements, unless the 

agency certifies that the rule will not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

The Bureau also is subject to certain 

additional procedures under the RFA 

involving the convening of a panel to 

consult with small business 

representatives prior to proposing a rule 

for which an IRFA is required. 

Neither an IRFA nor a FRFA is 

required for this rule because it will not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

The Bureau does not expect the rule to 

impose costs on small entities. As 

discussed above, the Bureau believes 

that the rule will cause a small 

reduction in costs on all issuers, 

including small entity issuers, who 

would otherwise be required to submit 

agreements to the Bureau. 

Accordingly, the undersigned certifies 

that the final rule will not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. 

VIII. Paperwork Reduction Act 

Analysis 

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), 

Federal agencies are generally required 

to seek the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) approval for information 

collection requirements prior to 

implementation. This final rule will 

amend Regulation Z, 12 CFR part 1026. 

The collections of information affected 

by this final rule have been previously 

reviewed and approved by OMB in 

accordance with the PRA and assigned 

OMB Control Number 3170–0052. 

Under the PRA, the Bureau may not 

conduct or sponsor and, 


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21158 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 74 / Friday, April 17, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 

notwithstanding any other provision of 

law, a person is not required to respond 

to an information collection unless the 

information collection displays a valid 

control number assigned by OMB. The 

Bureau has determined that this final 

rule will not impose any new 

recordkeeping, reporting, or disclosure 

requirements on covered entities or 

members of the public that would 

constitute collections of information 

requiring approval under the PRA. 

List of Subjects in 12 CFR Part 1026 

Advertising, Consumer protection, 

Credit, Credit unions, Mortgages, 

National banks, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, Savings 

associations, Truth in lending. 

Authority and Issuance 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, the Bureau amends 12 CFR 

part 1026, as follows: 

PART 1026—TRUTH IN LENDING 

(REGULATION Z) 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 1026 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 12 U.S.C. 2601, 2603–2605, 

2607, 2609, 2617, 5511, 5512, 5532, 5581; 15 

U.S.C. 1601 et seq. 

Subpart G—Special Rules Applicable 

to Credit Card Accounts and Open-End 

Credit Offered to College Students 

■ 2. Section 1026.58 is amended by 

adding paragraph (g) to read as follows: 

§ 1026.58 Internet posting of credit card 

agreements. 

* * * * * 

(g) Temporary suspension of 

agreement submission requirement—(1) 

Quarterly submissions. The quarterly 

submission requirement in paragraph (c) 

of this section is suspended for the 

submissions that would otherwise be 

due to the Bureau by the first business 

day on or after April 30, 2015; July 31, 

2015; October 31, 2015; and January 31, 

2016. 

(2) Posting of agreements offered to 

the public. Nothing in paragraph (g)(1) 

of this section shall affect the agreement 

posting requirements in paragraph (d) of 

this section. 

■ 3. In Supplement I to Part 1026, under 

Section 1026.58—Internet Posting of 

Credit Card Agreements, add 58(g) 

Temporary Suspension of Agreement 

Submission Requirement to read as 

follows: 

Supplement I to Part 1026—Official 

Interpretations 

* * * * * 

Section 1026.58—Internet Posting of Credit 

Card Agreements 

* * * * * 

58(g) Temporary Suspension of Agreement 

Submission Requirement 

1. Suspended quarterly submission 

requirement. Pursuant to § 1026.58(g)(1), card 

issuers are not required to make quarterly 

submissions to the Bureau, as otherwise 

required by § 1026.58(c), for the submissions 

that would otherwise be due by the first 

business day on or after April 30, 2015; July 

31, 2015; October 31, 2015; and January 31, 

2016. Specifically, a card issuer is not 

required to submit information about the 

issuer and its agreements pursuant to 

§ 1026.58(c)(1)(i), new credit card agreements 

pursuant to § 1026.58(c)(1)(ii), amended 

agreements pursuant to § 1026.58(c)(1)(iii) 

and (c)(3), or notification of withdrawn 

agreements pursuant to § 1026.58(c)(1)(iv) 

and (c)(4) through (7) for those four quarters. 

2. Resuming submission of credit card 

agreements to the Bureau. Beginning with 

the submission due on the first business day 

on or after April 30, 2016, card issuers shall 

resume submitting credit card agreements on 

a quarterly basis to the Bureau pursuant to 

§ 1026.58(c). A card issuer shall submit 

agreements for the prior calendar quarter 

(that is, the calendar quarter ending March 

31, 2016), as specified in § 1026.58(c)(1)(ii) 

through (iv) and (c)(3) through (7), to the 

Bureau no later than the first business day on 

or after April 30, 2016. 

i. Specifically, the submission due on the 

first business day on or after April 30, 2016 

shall contain, as applicable: 

A. Identifying information about the card 

issuer and the agreements submitted, 

including the issuer’s name, address, and 

identifying number (such as an RSSD ID 

number or tax identification number), 

pursuant to § 1026.58(c)(1)(i); 

B. The credit card agreements that the card 

issuer offered to the public as of the last 

business day of the calendar quarter ending 

March 31, 2016 that the card issuer had not 

previously submitted to the Bureau as of the 

first business day on or after January 31, 

2015, pursuant to § 1026.58(c)(1)(ii); 

C. Any credit card agreement previously 

submitted to the Bureau that was amended 

since the last business day of the calendar 

quarter ending December 31, 2014 and that 

the card issuer offered to the public as of the 

last business day of the calendar quarter 

ending March 31, 2016, pursuant to 

§ 1026.58(c)(1)(iii) and (c)(3); and 

D. Notification regarding any credit card 

agreement previously submitted to the 

Bureau that the issuer is withdrawing, 

pursuant to § 1026.58(c)(1)(iv) and (c)(4) 

through (7). 

ii. In lieu of the submission described in 

comment 58(g)–2.i.B through D, 

§ 1026.58(c)(1) permits a card issuer to 

submit to the Bureau a complete, updated set 

of the credit card agreements the card issuer 

offered to the public as of the calendar 

quarter ending March 31, 2016. See comment 

58(c)(1)–3. 

3. Continuing obligation to post agreements 

on a card issuer’s own Web site. Section 

1026.58(d) requires a card issuer to post and 

maintain on its publicly available Web site 

the credit card agreements that the issuer is 

required to submit to the Bureau under 

§ 1026.58(c). Pursuant to § 1026.58(g)(2), 

during the temporary suspension period set 

forth in § 1026.58(g)(1), a card issuer shall 

continue to post its agreements to its own 

publicly available Web site as required by 

§ 1026.58(d) using the agreements it would 

have otherwise submitted to the Bureau 

under § 1026.58(c). For example, for 

purposes of § 1026.58(d)(4), a card issuer 

must continue to update the agreements 

posted on its own Web site at least as 

frequently as the quarterly schedule required 

for submission of agreements to the Bureau 

set forth in § 1026.58(c)(1), notwithstanding 

the temporary suspension of submission 

requirements in § 1026.58(g)(1). Similarly, for 

purposes of § 1026.58(d)(2), agreements 

posted by a card issuer on its own Web site 

must continue to conform to the form and 

content requirements set forth in 

§ 1026.58(c)(8). 

* * * * * 

Dated: April 13, 2015. 

Richard Cordray, 

Director, Bureau of Consumer Financial 

Protection. 

[FR Doc. 2015–09000 Filed 4–15–15; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4810–AM–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Parts 71 and 73 

[Docket No. FAA–2015–0924; Airspace 

Docket No. 15–AWA–2] 

Amendment of Authority Citation for 

Part 71: Designation of Class A, B, C, 

D, and E Airspace Areas; Air Traffic 

Service Routes; and Reporting Points, 

and Part 73: Special Use Airspace 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final rule, technical 

amendment. 

SUMMARY: The FAA is amending the 

authority citation for part 71 and part 73 

by adding an additional citation at the 

beginning of the authority citation 

string. This action updates and clarifies 

the Administrator’s rulemaking 

authority to be consistent with other 

parts of Title 14, Code of Federal 

Regulations. 

DATES: Effective 0901 UTC, April 17, 

2015. 

ADDRESSES: For 14 CFR part 71: FAA 

Order 7400.9Y, Airspace Designations 

and Reporting Points and subsequent 

amendments can be viewed online at 

http://www.faa.gov/airtraffic/

publications/. FAA Order 7400.9, 

Airspace Designations and Reporting 


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