Onerous CFPB 1071 Rule Needs to Go. New ICBA-Advocated Bill Would Scrap 1071 to Support Small-Business Lending.

Washington, D.C. (Feb. 5, 2025) — The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) today expressed strong support for legislation to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s small-business data collection and reporting requirements under Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The 1071 Repeal to Protect Small Business Lending Act, introduced by House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams (R-Texas), would repeal the statute that underlies the CFPB rule.

“ICBA and the nation’s community banks applaud Chairman Williams for introducing much-needed legislation to overturn intrusive and overly burdensome data collection and reporting requirements for small-business loans,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said today. “The 1071 Repeal to Protect Small Business Lending Act will halt the implementation of misguided data collection requirements that would significantly degrade the ability of community banks to meet the needs of small businesses, require financial institutions to burden their customers with invasive and personal questions, and permit the CFPB to publicly report this sensitive data.”

The CFPB’s rule requires lenders to collect and report data on credit applicants, including the race, sex, and ethnicity of the principal owners as well as gross annual revenue. While the CFPB has the authority to exempt any class of financial institutions from the standards it develops and to limit mandatory data points to those required by the law, it has opted to apply the rule to the vast majority of community banks—which make 60% of the nation’s small-business loans—and to require data points far exceeding those required by law.

During the 118th Congress, Chairman Williams sponsored ICBA-supported legislation under the Congressional Review Act to repeal the CFPB’s 1071 rule. Despite strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate, the legislation was ultimately vetoed by then-President Joe Biden. The Congressional Review Act cannot be used again on 1071, so ICBA is backing Chairman Williams’ new legislation to scrap 1071, which would need to pass the full House and faces a 60-vote hurdle to pass the Senate.

ICBA calls on all members of Congress to support and advance the 1071 Repeal to Protect Small Business Lending Act to ensure community banks can continue meeting the needs of the nation’s small businesses.

About ICBA

The Independent Community Bankers of America® has one mission: to create and promote an environment where community banks flourish. We power the potential of the nation’s community banks through effective advocacy, education, and innovation.

As local and trusted sources of credit, America’s community banks leverage their relationship-based business model and innovative offerings to channel deposits into the neighborhoods they serve, creating jobs, fostering economic prosperity, and fueling their customers’ financial goals and dreams. For more information, visit ICBA’s website at icba.org.