The CFPB needs to rethink its approach to financial innovators, and one of the most welcomed changes would be to reinvent the agency’s “no-action letters” policy, compliance attorneys said. The program was introduced in February 2016 as part of the bureau’s “Project Catalyst” to improve access to consumer financial products and services, and to reduce regulatory uncertainty for financial innovators.A no-action letter would indicate that bureau staff have reviewed a company’s application ...

Removing civil public records has little effect on consumers’ credit scores, the CFPB found in the latest quarterly consumer credit trends report issued last week. The National Consumer Assistance Plan required the three nationwide credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – to create minimum standards for personal information and reporting frequency for civil public records, including bankruptcies, civil judgement, and tax liens. The new standards were a product between the credit ...

CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney said the bureau will depend on state attorneys general for more leadership and more collaboration in enforcing consumer protection laws. “We are going to look into the state regulators and state attorneys general for a lot more leadership when it comes to enforcement,” Mulvaney said at the winter meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General. If a state attorney general is not bringing an action that the bureau is looking at, “I’m going to want to know why,” he said ...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed a motion last week to advance bipartisan legislation that would relieve banks, especially smaller ones, from a handful of CFPB regulations. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, or S. 2155, was passed by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in December 2017. The vote on the motion to proceed will be on Tuesday, March 6. The act, introduced by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-ID, would roll back a number of ...

Two recent Government Accountability Office reports suggested regulators, including the CFPB, take additional steps to address compliance burdens for community banks and credit unions. Over 60 smaller depository institutions told GAO that regulations for reporting mortgage characteristics, reviewing transactions for potentially illicit activity, and disclosing mortgage terms were the most problematic.Data-requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act are great burdens, according to ...

The fight between Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, and the CFPB’s Acting Director Mick Mulvaney regarding the payday lending rule is escalating. In a two-paragraph response released last week, Mulvaney rejected the accusation that his decision to retreat from payday lending was connected to the campaign contributions that payday lenders gave. “I rejected your insinuation – repeated three times in as many pages – that my actions as acting director are based on considerations other than than a careful examination ...

Fannie Mae is keeping a close watch on any future changes to the CFPB’s ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule, saying whatever happens could have a “material effect on the quality and quantity of loans available for sale to us.” Roughly a year ago, the CFPB announced it would begin its statutorily-mandated assessment of the ATR and QM provisions. “The CFPB is required to assess the effectiveness of the regulations in light of its stated goals and to publish a report, after public comment, on whether ...

The CFPB issued its fifth request for information as a part of Acting Director Mick Mulvaney’s “call for evidence,” this one on external engagements. The bureau “seeks comments and information from interested parties to assist [it] in assessing its public and non-public external engagements,” it said. The CFPB asked for input on all aspects of conducting external engagements, including but not limited to field hearings, town halls, roundtables, and meetings of the Advisory Board and Councils to “maximize ...

In addition to the request for information the CFPB issued on its external engagement, the agency also asked for input on how it reports consumer complaint information.The agency is seeking comments from interested parties regarding “potential changes that can be implemented to the bureau’s public reporting practices of consumer complaint information, consistent with law, to consider whether any changes to the practices would be appropriate,” it said. Specifically, the CFPB is using this RFI to solicit feedback on ...

The CFPB is continuing its investigation into what went wrong at Equifax regarding the massive data breach the credit bureau suffered last year, according to a new 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last fall, Equifax said hackers stole personal data it had collected on some 143 million U.S. consumers. In the new filing, the company updated that estimate to almost 146 million Americans. The CFPB, of course, is not the only government body looking into the hack ... [Includes two briefs]