CFPB Proposed Rule on Small Business Lending Data Collection (ECOA)

CFPB Proposed Rule/Request for Comments on Small Business Lending under the ECOA
12 CFR Part 1002

November 2025

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a proposal that revises certain provisions of Regulation B implementing changes to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act made by Section 1071 of Dodd Frank. 

Comments are due by December 15, 2025 and the proposal can be found here.

Summary

In this proposal, the Bureau is reconsidering coverage of certain credit transactions and financial institutions; the small business definition; inclusion of certain data points and how others are collected; and the compliance date.  The CFPB believes these proposed changes would streamline the rule, reduce complexity for lenders, and improve data quality, advancing the purposes of Section 1071 and complying with recent executive directives. 

The Bureau now believes that the data collection rule should start with a narrow sweep and focus on core lending products, lenders and data.  The rule suggests that the Bureau should take a longer-term approach to implementing this statutory requirement with a gradual expansion of data collection. 

Specifics of Proposed Rule

  • Covered Credit Transactions
    • Proposal narrows the number of covered credit transactions.  The Bureau proposes to exclude merchant cash advances (MCAs), agricultural lending, and small dollar loans from the definition of covered credit transaction.
  • Covered Financial Institutions
    • The proposal would narrow the initial data collection requirements under Section 1071 to larger core lenders.  The rule proposes two changes to the definition of “covered financial institutions:”
      • The definition excludes FCS lenders, and
      • the origination threshold is raised from 100 to 1000 covered transactions for each two consecutive years.
  • Small Business
    • The rule proposes to change the gross annual revenue threshold in the rule’s definition of small business from $5 million or less to $1 million or less.
  • Data Points
    • The proposed rule would focus data collection on data points specifically enumerated in Section 1071 and a limited number of other data points needed to facilitate the collection of statutory data points. 
    • The proposal would remove the discretionary data points for the application method, application recipient, dental reasons, pricing information and number of workers.  
  • Time/Manner of Data Collection
    • The proposal would revise provisions on the time/manner of data collection and remove certain requirements that are not statutorily required and appear to anticipate or presume non-compliance with the rule. 
  • Compliance Dates
    • The proposal would extend the rule’s compliance date to January 1, 2028 for all covered institutions.
  • Comments Requested
    • The Bureau seeks comments on the general approach taken in this proposal.  In addition, the Bureau seeks comments on the following:
      • The proposed exclusion or reconsideration of the products, lenders, small business definition and data points identified.
      • The likely change in costs/complexity of data associated with each of the proposed regulatory revisions and whether the changes to the quality of data advances or is contrary to the purposes of Section 1071. 
      • The Bureau requests comment on whether the 2023 final rule has created any reliance interests not otherwise identified in the proposal.