Credit unions representing nearly a quarter of the nation'smembers will get a break from reporting home equity line of creditdata to federal regulators under a rule change proposed Monday.

CFPB Director Richard Cordray said Monday the agency would issuea proposal within two weeks to raise the HELOC reportingthreshold.

The current rule under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, which is designed to preventdiscrimination in lending, requires credit unions to report datafrom home equity lines of credit to the CFPB starting in 2018.

The rule now exempts credit unions only if they grant fewer than100 HELOCs per year. But CUNA and other industry groups had been pushing for a higherthreshold.

“In recent months, the bureau has heard increasing concerns fromcommunity banks and credit unions about the burdens that this newreporting regime will impose on them,” Cordray wrote in a letterMonday to U.S. Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Mike Rounds(R-S.D.).

Cordray said he will propose exempting institutions thatoriginate fewer than 500 HELOCs in either of the previous twocalendar years from reporting in 2018 and 2019.

“Temporarily increasing the HELOC threshold in this way willgive small institutions additional relief and provide the ConsumerBureau ample opportunity to reconsider the HELOC thresholdcontained in the final rule and decide where it should be beginningin 2020,” Cordray wrote.

The move would provide regulatory relief to about 480 creditunions with $299.2 billion in assets and 24.7 million members,based on NCUA data for credit unions granting 100 to 499 open-endreal estate lines of credit in 2016.

Those credit unions granted $4.4 billion of credit unions' $21.5billion in HELOCs last year. They represented 23% of the nation's$1.3 billion in credit union assets and 108 million members as ofDec. 31.

The rule will still apply to about 238 credit unions — thosegranting 500 or more HELOCs in 2016. The credit unions that stillwill have to report represent about 48% of assets and 42% ofmembers.

Last year there were 1,942 credit unions with fewer than 100HELOCs, and 3,249 credit unions that did not grant HELOCs.