The Office of Advocacy for the Small Business Administration (SBA) has submitted yet another letter to the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), this time, voicing its concern over the FRB's recently-issued compliance guide that does not meet the requirements of Section 212(a)(4) of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA). After a long delay in finally publishing its "Compliance Guide to Small Entities" regarding Regulation Z: Loan Originator Compensation and Steering, SBA Advocacy maintains that the FRB has still not met the obligation to “include a description of actions needed to meet the requirements of a rule, to enable a small entity to know when such requirements are met," according to the letter.
SBA Advocacy's follow up letter, dated Feb. 1, 2011 and signed by Winslow Sargeant, Ph.D. , Chief Counsel for Advocacy and Jennifer A. Smith, Assistant Chief Counsel for Economic Regulation & Banking, is the second letter submitted to the FRB in less that a month requesting further guidance regarding the topic of loan officer compensation and steering. The original SBA Advocacy letter, submitted Jan. 13, 2011, initially requested the previously unavailable "Compliance Guide to Small Entities."
SBA Advocacy had requested a compliance guide from the FRB as none was ever issued when the FRB published Regulation Z; Docket No. R-1366, Truth-in-Lending in the Federal Register on Sept. 24, 2010. The FRB, after several months delay, finally issued a compliance guide on Jan. 26, 2011 that summarizes and explains rules adopted by the Board, but is not a substitute for the final rule itself, which is set to be enforced on April 1, 2011.
"Advocacy once again encourages the Board to postpone the implementation date for small entities. A delay to educate small entities on the proper implementation of the requirements of the rule will benefit the entities and the consumers who utilize their services," concludes the letter.
