Small Financial Institutions Regulatory Relief Act of 2014

Bill: 113-hr-5786
Sponsor: Rep. Lankford, James [R-OK-5]
Introduced: 2014-12-03 in the House
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Administrative remedies
Bank accounts, deposits, capital
Banking and financial institutions regulation
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Consumer affairs
Consumer credit
Federal Reserve System
Federal officials
Housing finance and home ownership
Real estate business
Right of privacy
Rural conditions and development
Small business

Summary:
action_date: 2014-12-03
text: 
Small Financial Institutions Regulatory Relief Act of 2014 - Amends the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), with respect to minimum standards for residential mortgage loans and the presumption of ability to repay, to treat as a &quot;qualified mortage&quot; any residential mortgage loan made by a creditor having less than $10 billion in total assets, so long as the loan is originated and retained in creditor's portfolio for the duration of the loan term.
 
Directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to exempt a creditor with assets of less than $10 billion from the requirement to establish escrow or impound accounts for the payment of taxes and hazard insurance before consummating a consumer credit transaction secured by a first lien on the principal dwelling of the consumer. 
 
Amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to direct the CFPB to provide either exemptions to, or adjustments from, its mortgage loan servicing and escrow account administration requirements for servicers that service fewer than 10,000 mortgage loans annually.
 
Amends the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act to exempt from its annual privacy policy notice requirement a financial institution that: (1) provides nonpublic personal information only in accordance with specified requirements, and (2) has not changed its policies and practices with regard to disclosing nonpublic personal information from those disclosed in its most recent disclosure to consumers.
 
Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to publish in the Federal Register proposed revisions to the Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement on the Assessment of Financial and Managerial Factors that: (1) apply that policy to bank holding companies having pro forma consolidated assets of less than $5 billion (adjusted annually), no engagement in nonbanking activities involving significant leverage, and no significant amount of outstanding debt; and (2) increase from 1.1 to 3.1 the debt-to-equity ratio allowable for a small bank holding company in order to retain its eligibility both to pay a corporate dividend and to implement expedited processing procedures under the Board's Regulation Y.
 
Amends the Federal Reserve Act to require the Board to have at all times at least one member with demonstrated experience working in or supervising community banks having less than $10 billion in total assets.
 
Directs the CFPB to establish an application process under which a person who lives or does business in a state may apply to have an area in the state identified as rural if it has not yet been so designated for purposes of federal consumer financial law. 
 
Prescribes criteria for the CFPB to consider when evaluating an application. Requires the CFPB to: (1) grant or deny the application within 90 days after the public comment period ends; and (2) publish the grant or denial in the Federal Register.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2014-12-03
text: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
action_date: 2014-12-03
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2014-12-03
text: Introduced in House