The CFPB has published the first update to its exam procedures for the new mortgage regulations it issued in January 2013 having to do with appraisals, escrow accounts, and compensation and qualifications for loan originators. The exam procedures offer financial institutions and mortgage companies guidance on what the CFPB will be looking for as the rules become effective. “The CFPB recognizes that the easier we make it for financial institutions and mortgage companies to follow the new regulations, the better off consumers...

The CFPB recently put out two more small entity compliance guides, one for its loan originator rule and the other for its mortgage servicing rules that were finalized in January and kick in Jan. 10, 2014. The loan originator rule generally regulates how compensation is paid to a loan originator in most closed-end mortgage transactions. That includes prohibiting a loan originator’s compensation from being based on the terms of the transaction or a proxy for a transaction term. The LO rule also prohibits loan...

Eight lender industry trade groups have called upon the CFPB and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide written guidance that clearly spells out that complying with the bureau’s ability‐to repay/qualified mortgage rulemaking will not make lenders vulnerable to disparate impact liability under the Fair Housing Act or the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. In February of this year, HUD came out with its disparate impact rule under which liability for such claims can be established as per the Fair Housing Act. Back in...

Former top CFPB officials are banking on the widespread assumption that most mortgage lenders plan to avoid making mortgages that do not meet the “qualified mortgage” standard under the bureau’s ability-to-repay rule. Raj Date, the former deputy director at the CFPB, and three other high-placed bureau alums, Garry Reeder, former chief of staff; Chris Haspel, former senior advisor for mortgage servicing and securitization; and Mitchell Hochberg, former regulatory senior counsel, have created a new consumer finance company called Fenway...

As part of its scrutiny of the use of mandatory pre‐dispute arbitration clauses in consumer financial contracts, the CFPB is proposing to conduct a nationwide telephone survey of 1,000 credit card holders. In Section 1028 of the Dodd‐Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Congress instructed the bureau to complete a study about arbitration. Section 1028 also authorizes the CFPB to “prohibit or impose conditions or limitations on the use of” such agreements based on the study results, the attorneys at the...

The CFPB recently released initial data findings from its 15‐month (and counting) study of overdraft programs, including a few comments that suggest some rulemaking is in the offing. “Nothing in this report implies that banks and credit unions should be precluded from offering overdraft coverage,” the report stated. Moreover, the study noted progress in some areas in recent years in protecting consumers from harm. “Nonetheless, our findings with respect to the number of consumers who are incurring heavy overdraft fees or account...

Comments at the recent CFPB/Federal Trade Commission roundtable on debt collection reveal the bureau is concerned about making the process more consumer friendly, and that portends more oversight and regulation for the industry. “At the bureau, we recognize that debt collection is an essential part of the credit system,” said Steve Antonakes, the bureau’s acting deputy director. “Debt collectors remind borrowers that repaying debt is a serious obligation and that not repaying has consequences.” However, the bureau also...

Bureau Puts All Mortgage Rules in One Online Location. The CFPB launched its new Regulatory Implementation web page last week, a centralized online location that consolidates all of the bureau’s new 2013 mortgage rules and related implementation materials. “This is an effort to support rule implementation and ensure that industry is ready to comply with the new borrower protections,” the CFPB said. This is the central access point for the agency’s mortgage-related implementation materials, including mortgage rules at a glance...

The House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-NC, plans a hearing on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 18, entitled, “CFPB Budget Review.” “The hearing will examine the past and planned obligations and expenditures of the CFPB for fiscal years 2011-14, the purpose and propriety of such obligations and expenditures, and whether the absence of CFPB accountability to Congress has an impact on such obligations and expenditures,” according to a subcommittee...

Former rating analysts at two of the major rating services told the Securities and Exchange Commission that problems with the rating system are due to management at the rating services, not the analysts in charge of assigning ratings. “The management sets the policies, goals and corporate culture,” said David Jacob, the executive managing director of global structured finance at Standard & Poor’s from 2008 through 2011. “Management serves its firm’s shareholders, who look to maximize profit. There is nothing wrong with this. However, invariably there is potential for a conflict of interest.” In a comment letter submitted to the SEC last week, Jacob said...