Smaller financial institutions told the CFPB they see some positive possibilities for facilitating the banking needs of certain economically vulnerable segments of society through the use of mobile technologies. However, there are certain limitations with current capabilities, as well as unique security and fraud concerns. “The increased availability and use of not only mobile phones but mobile devices across a wide spectrum of sizes, weights and portability, as well as the continuing expansion of the mobile banking functions and capabilities of those devices, offer opportunity to expand bank services to current banking customers as well as those who are termed unbanked or underbanked,” the American Bankers Association said. While mobile banking offers potential for financial inclusion, it is not a ...
The CFPB would have a handful of new oversight responsibilities for the credit-reporting sector under a discussion draft of possible legislation entitled the “Fair Credit Reporting Improvement Act of 2014,” circulated last week by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee. Among the draft’s provisions is a directive for the bureau to set standards for validating the accuracy and predictive value of credit score algorithms, formulas, models, programs, and mechanisms…
In what looks like an example of a minority party member of Congress trying to outflank the majority party, Rep. Carol Maloney, D-NY, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, wrote CFPB Director Richard Cordray last week and urged the agency take specific steps to address certain checking account overdraft practices. Some of her suggestions are included in legislation she introduced last year that has not been taken up by committee. Maloney’s recommendations come despite indications that most bank customers overall pay little or nothing for their monthly banking services. Referencing a related study issued by the bureau in July, Maloney said the agency’s report provides “indisputable evidence” that consumers who have not opted in to overdraft protection are ...
The CFPB is reviewing the debt collection practices of debt buyers as part of its broader expected rulemaking on debt collection. According to Alan Kaplinsky, a practice leader with the Ballard Spahr law firm in Philadelphia, those practices could become the subject of a uniform state debt-buying code if the newly authorized Study Committee on the Transfer and Recording of Consumer Debt concludes that a uniform code will produce significant benefits to the public. The new panel was authorized this summer by the non-partisan Uniform Law Commission. The ULC noted that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 2013 issued a “best practices” document that expressed concern about safety, soundness and consumer protection issues involved with such sales ...
The CFPB’s Office of Inspector General has a handful of ongoing reviews and audits underway with a projected fourth-quarter completion date, most notably audits of the bureau’s contract management and hiring processes. The OIG said its audit of the CFPB’s contract management process is a follow-up to the evaluation of the bureau’s contract solicitation and selection process. The OIG’s focus this time around will include the CFPB’s compliance with applicable rules established by what’s known as the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and the effectiveness of the bureau’s internal controls related to contract management. On a related note, the OIG is also evaluating the bureau’s hiring process, including its administration of recruitment and selection incentives to recruit new employees. This review was ...
Last week, the law firm of Fredrick J. Hanna & Associates filed a motion to dismiss the enforcement action brought by the CFPB against it back in July. The bureau accused the firm and its three principal partners – Frederick Hanna, Joseph Cooling and Robert Winter – of operating a debt-collection lawsuit mill that used illegal tactics to intimidate consumers into paying debts they may not owe.Between 2009 and 2013, the firm filed more than 350,000 debt-collection lawsuits in Georgia alone, according to the CFPB. The bureau further alleged the defendants collected millions of dollars each year through these lawsuits, often from consumers who may not actually have owed the debts.But in its motion to dismiss, Hanna & Associates argued ...
Industry Tries to Rustle Up Support for QM Points-and-Fees Legislation. The Mortgage Action Alliance, the grassroots advocacy group of the Mortgage Bankers Association, recently issued a “call to action” to its members to get on the telephone and call their Senators and urge them to pass legislation that would make key changes to the way points and fees are calculated under the qualified mortgage definition in the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule. S. 1577, the Mortgage Choice Act of 2013, introduced last year by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV, exempts any affiliated title charges and escrow charges for taxes and insurance from the QM cap on points and fees. Manchin’s bill is a legislative companion to H.R. 3211, the Mortgage Choice Act, which ...
Banks large and small continue to add mortgages to their portfolios, with new additions outpacing runoff from refinances and foreclosures. The new additions to bank portfolios are largely jumbo mortgages, though some lenders are retaining agency-eligible loans. Banks and thrifts held a total of $1.76 trillion of first-lien mortgages in portfolio as of the end of the second quarter of 2014, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of call reports. The first-lien holdings were up 1.4 percent compared with the previous quarter and level compared with the second quarter of 2013. Among the four largest holders of first liens, only Bank of America decreased its portfolio in the second quarter. Compared with the second quarter of 2013, JPMorgan Chase was the only bank among the big four to increase its first-lien holdings.
A number of firms that hold vintage non-agency mortgage-backed securities are using their clean-up call options as the outstanding balance in the MBS dwindles. Executing clean-up calls can be more profitable for certain firms than allowing securities to run-off. Chimera Investment is the latest firm to tout its clean-up call strategy. The real estate investment trust said it acquired the rights to $4.8 billion of seasoned subprime mortgages by purchasing subordinate tranches of non-agency MBS issued by Springleaf Finance between 2011 and 2013. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.
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