In a recent question-and-answer with the Washington Post, CFPB Director Richard Cordray indicated the bureau is not going to ease up as it moves forward with rulemaking in the payday-lending, debt collection and prepaid-card sectors of the financial services industry. “We will be undertaking rulemaking in the debt-collection area,” Cordray told the Post. The work on that will get started later this fall. As the nation’s top consumer regulator sees it, debt collection is an area that is in need of revision and updating...

It’s now being said that consumer complaints may be the biggest regulatory threat companies face in the era of the CFPB, perhaps especially so for those operating in the mortgage sector. So a fully competent compliance management system will be essential for companies striving to comply with the bureau’s mortgage servicing requirements; otherwise, they likely face fines and/or disgorgement. But a solid CMS is only the means to an end, and it all boils down to better communication with the borrower, top industry and vendor...

Staff and members of the Mortgage Bankers Association met with the CFPB in recent weeks to discuss how to determine the “interest rate without any discount” that is used to calculate the starting point at which bona fide discount points can be used to reduce the rate and are eligible for exclusion from the qualified mortgage’s points-and-fees cap. Specifically, MBA asked if the interest rate to be used is the rate unique to each consumer or is simply a rate from a standard rate sheet. The trade group also wanted to know what the...

Representatives of the American Bankers Association and the Mortgage Bankers Association recently met with the CFPB to discuss the applicability of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act appraisal rule to certain business purpose loans secured by multifamily dwellings or inventories of homes. According to the industry’s account of the discussions, CFPB staff stated that while the ECOA appraisal rule is applicable to personal and business purpose applications for credit, the rule is intended to exclude applications for credit involving...

The CFPB recently put out a bulletin warning employers that they cannot require their employees to receive wages on a payroll card. The bureau said it has received reports of employers, particularly in the retail and food service industries, distributing wages solely through payroll cards. However, the bureau said federal law prohibits employers from mandating that employees receive wages exclusively on a payroll card. Further, some employees receiving wages on employer-sponsored payroll cards have complained to the CFPB about...

CFPB Deploys a New Online HMDA Tool. Last week, the CFPB launched an online tool to provide consumers with easy access to public mortgage information collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. “The tool enables greater transparency by helping inform people of trends in their local mortgage markets,” the bureau said. You can check it out at http://www.consumerfinance.gov/hmda/. Auto Dealers Push Back Against CFPB Criticism. The National Automobile Dealers Association is rejecting recent CFPB criticism of dealer discretion when it...

Bank holdings of home-equity loans continue to decline, with mixed performance trends. Regulators warn that home-equity lines of credit originated before the financial crisis are a particular concern as the loans are set to reach their amortization periods. Banks and thrifts held $1.05 trillion in HELOCs, HELOC commitments and closed-end seconds as of the end of the second quarter of 2013, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance Bank Mortgage Database. The holdings declined by 1.9 percent ... [Includes one data chart]

Two top Democrats on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs called upon the FHA to revise its eligibility policy to enable more distressed borrowers to qualify for loan modification. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, urged FHA Commissioner Carol Galante in a letter to eliminate a provision that requires borrowers to be “currently employed” in order to receive loss mitigation assistance from the FHA. The FHA inserted the provision into the FHA guidelines for ...

Genworth U.S. Mortgage Insurance has stepped up its competition with the FHA in the home purchase market by announcing reduced rates and the elimination of certain overlays to make it easier for customers to deliver loans through the government-sponsored enterprises’ automatic underwriting systems. Effective on Sept. 16, the credit policy changes closely align Genworth’s requirements with those for loans approved by Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter or Freddie Mac’s Loan Prospector. Specifically, Genworth will expand guidelines for its Simply Underwrite program to enable lenders to offer affordable low-downpayment financing to ...

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago has announced a partnership with Ginnie Mae to issue securities guaranteed by the secondary market agency and backed by home loans originated by member financial institutions. The new conduit product, “MPF Government Mortgage-Backed Securities,” provides another secondary mortgage market outlet for lenders originating mortgages insured by the FHA or guaranteed by the VA or the Rural Housing Service. Low-volume lenders that currently lack direct access to the secondary market are expected to benefit from the new FHLBank program. MPF GMBS would allow lenders to ... [1 chart]