The National Credit Union Administration has finalized four rules that scrap or trim regulations it considers outdated, redundant, or overly prescriptive.
The changes come out of the NCUA’s Deregulation Project, an ongoing review meant to keep the agency’s rulebook focused on credit unions’ safety, soundness, and resilience. Here’s what the Board did:
- 12 CFR 701.31 (Nondiscrimination Requirements): eliminated.
- 12 CFR Part 740 (Accuracy of Advertising and Notice of Insured Status): amended to drop the official advertising statement requirement.
- 12 CFR Part 716 (Privacy of Consumer Financial Information): eliminated.
- 12 CFR Part 761 (Registration of Residential Mortgage Loan Originators): eliminated, along with 12 CFR 741.223.
Nondiscrimination Requirements (12 CFR 701.31)
This rule summarized Fair Housing Act (FHA) nondiscrimination requirements for real estate lending, appraisals, and advertising. The NCUA last made substantive changes in 2001, and the text no longer reflected current legal and regulatory developments. It also duplicated requirements found in other federal laws and regulations.
The Board concluded that removing it cuts confusion. Federal credit unions’ obligations under the FHA, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), and their implementing regulations stay exactly as they were.
Advertising and Insured Status (12 CFR Part 740)
Federally insured credit unions (FICUs) will no longer have to include the official NCUA advertising statement in their ads. The Board found the requirement overly prescriptive and out of step with modern advertising practices.
Nothing else changes. The official NCUA sign requirement remains, and advertising must still be accurate and not misleading. FICUs must keep complying with all other applicable advertising rules.
Privacy of Consumer Financial Information (12 CFR Part 716)
Part 716 held an outdated cross-reference to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) privacy regulation. The Dodd-Frank Act moved the NCUA’s Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act rulemaking authority over consumer financial privacy to the CFPB, which has maintained those requirements since 2011. Part 716 only served as a transition aid, so the Board saw no reason to keep it.
Credit unions’ privacy obligations are unchanged. They continue to be governed by the CFPB’s Regulation P.
Mortgage Loan Originator Registration (12 CFR Part 761)
The Board eliminated Part 761 and 12 CFR 741.223. Part 761 pointed credit unions to the CFPB’s Regulation G, and Section 741.223 required compliance with it.
Dodd-Frank also transferred the NCUA’s SAFE Act rulemaking authority to the CFPB, which maintains Regulation G at 12 CFR 1007. Both provisions were kept only to help credit unions through the handoff, and that purpose has run its course. Credit unions remain subject to the SAFE Act and Regulation G.
How the Rules Break Down
Each change was grouped by the reason behind it:
- 12 CFR 701.31: obsolete, overly burdensome, duplicative, and guidance.
- 12 CFR 740.0 and 740.5: overly burdensome.
- 12 CFR Part 716: obsolete.
- 12 CFR Part 761 (with conforming changes to Part 741): obsolete.
Detailed summaries of each rule are on the NCUA’s Deregulation Project page. To submit comments, enter the docket numbers in the search on the Federal Rulemaking Portal.
Credit unions’ underlying legal duties stay put; only the redundant paperwork around them goes away.