It’s been almost a year now since the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule went into effect, and industry participants across the credit spectrum appear increasingly comfortable with the new disclosure regime. But when it first came out, the rule took all the oxygen from the room and caused more fear and anxiety that, in retrospect, appears to be have been justified, according to a handful of experts in the non-prime mortgage origination space. Speaking during ...

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee had enough votes, despite one defection, to pass a comprehensive alternative to the Dodd-Frank Act that includes a host of changes to the CFPB. The most significant them would be replacing the single directorship with a five-member bipartisan commission and subjecting the agency to the congressional appropriations process. The legislative vehicle they used was H.R. 5983, the Financial CHOICE (Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs) Act, formally introduced 10 days ago by committee ...

H.R. 5983, the Financial CHOICE (Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs) Act by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has incorporated the provisions of a number of bills that have either already passed the committee or the full House of Representatives and that would affect ...

The CFPB recently provided some written guidance on its mortgage rules to the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. The guidance, in the form of a letter, highlights some of the important changes to the mortgage rules that likely apply to many of the small lenders that CSBS members supervise. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by Inside the CFPB, came in response to a meeting this spring between Texas Department of Banking Commissioner and CSBS Chairman Charles Cooper, members of the ...

Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO John Stumpf will be on what is expected to be a very hot seat before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee tomorrow when he is expected to explain what went wrong at his institution that enabled employees to open more than two million deposit and credit card accounts that may not have been authorized by consumers. CFPB Director Richard Cordray is also scheduled to testify, as is Comptroller of the Currency Tom Curry and ...

First it was Corinthian Colleges, then ITT Educational Services. Now, Bridgepoint Education Inc. has been taken to task by the CFPB over alleged misconduct. Last week, the bureau brought a $31.5 million enforcement action against the for-profit post-secondary education company based in San Diego, accusing it of deceiving students into taking out private student loans that cost more than advertised....

Even Under Trump, Would the CFPB Be Invincible? If businessman Donald Trump wins the White House in November, the CFPB would be in the Republican’s crosshairs for sure. But the bureau’s recent consumer fraud case against Wells Fargo for opening up roughly two million deposit and credit card accounts without authorization has caused such outrage nationwide that it may very well give the controversial regulator a “shield” of sorts. At least that’s what we’ve been…

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw a solid 10.0 percent increase in production of single-family mortgage-backed securities in August, and there are signs that the GSEs are regaining some lost market share as well. The two GSEs issued $91.59 billion of single-family MBS last month, their highest monthly total since August 2013. Interestingly, most of the increase came from rising refinance activity. The flow of refi loans is up 14.0 percent at Fannie and 8.7 percent at Freddie, while purchase-mortgage business rose 9.9 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively, at the two firms. Two thirds of the way through 2016, GSE single-family business was still down slightly from the first eight months of last year.

Credit unions and some others in the industry are apprehensive about the changes the GSEs’ Common Securitization Platform will bring as the date nears for Freddie Mac to issue the first mortgage-backed security on the system. The National Association of Federal Credit Unions wrote the Federal Housing Finance Agency last week citing concerns about the CSP’s potential impact on credit unions. While the trade group said it is not opposed to creating a more efficient platform with an open architecture to support multiple issuers, Ann Kossachev, NAFCU’s counsel, worries about a level playing field. “NAFCU and its member credit unions are concerned that the consolidation of the securitization programs will make it more difficult for...

The analysis, the first of its kind, was based on new Inside Mortgage Finance surveys that drew results from a broad sample of banks and nonbanks of all size classifications.