Andy Barr: “I applaud and thank my colleague from Ohio and my colleague from Arkansas for their leadership on this issue. On May 22…”

“I applaud and thank my colleague from Ohio and my colleague from Arkansas for their leadership on this issue. On May 22, I sent a bipartisan letter with my colleague, Congresswoman Maloney, to CFPB Director Richard Cordray requesting a grace period for compliance with the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule, or TRID. The letter was signed by 254 Members of Congress. Of those, 92 were Democrats. TRID is a complex rule and compliance term requiring new, untested software to harmonize data from realtors, mortgage brokers, lenders, land title agents, and others involved in the closing process. All that our letter requested was a grace period for those making good faith efforts to comply with the rule. No delay in the rule, no reproposal, just a grace period. We have listened to our constituents, and what they tell us is that innocent mistakes are inevitable as the disclosure software is tested in the real world for the first time. In fact, CFPB cited a mistake as the reason to delay implementation of the rule from August 1 until this past Saturday, October 3. However, that delay and promises of sensitive enforcement do nothing to provide certainty that honest mistakes during the early days of TRID, when these untested systems are used in real transactions, will not be punished with fines and lawsuits.…”