Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. French Hill (AR-02), alongside Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) and Rep. Roger Williams (TX-25), reintroduced the Small LENDER Act to protect small banks and lenders from costly and excessive compliance standards. This bill was reintroduced as a part of a three-bill package.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy across America. With small lenders often spearheading investment in their local communities, it is critical that small businesses have access to the capital they need to flourish. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) proposed regulation hurts small businesses by making credit more costly and imposes significant compliance costs that disproportionately impact smaller companies,” said Hill, Luetkemeyer, and Williams.

“Together, we are proud to introduce the Small LENDER Act which would provide regulatory relief to community banks and other small lenders. Small businesses should not be subjected to the same compliance parameters as large businesses. Our bill makes essential changes to exempt smaller banks and other lenders from having to comply with the CFPB small business data collection regulation in the absence of Congress repealing Section 1071 of Dodd-Frank,” added Hill, Luetkemeyer, and Williams.


This legislation has been endorsed by the Credit Union National Association, First Security Bank, Independent Community Bankers Association, Farmers & Merchants Bank, and Arkansas Bankers Association.

Further Background:

• Small LENDER Act: This bill would codify “financial institution” as one that originates at least 500 covered transactions in each of the last two years, as opposed to the 25-transaction threshold proposed in the CFPB’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). The bill also codifies “small business” as one with gross annual revenues of $1 million or less in the last year instead of $5 million or less as defined in the NPRM. Finally, the bill extends the effective compliance date with the final rule to be three years after publication in the Federal Register plus a two-year grace period, as opposed to the 18-month implementation period in the NPRM.