PHH Corp. decided not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a lower court ruling that effectively overturned the CFPB’s controversial interpretation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act under former Director Richard Cordray. The lender’s lawsuit also unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the CFPB. In January, the en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with PHH on the RESPA components of the dispute, invalidating ...
Mortgage lenders spent a considerable amount of money implementing the qualified-mortgage rule, and many are not keen about a major overhaul, according to a survey by Strategic Mortgage Finance Group. Some 54 percent of 122 respondents to the survey favored no or only modest changes to QM rules. There was little variation between banks and independents, or large and small lenders. However, lender attitudes on regulatory change vary significantly with the size of ...
The House last week voted to kill the CFPB’s auto lending guidance, but the chances of a similar override of the bureau’s payday rule are fading, attorneys said. In a 234-175 vote, the House repealed Obama-era CFPB guidance on indirect auto lending that subjected auto dealers and others to liability for discriminatory price markups. The Senate passed the Congressional Review Act resolution last month, and President Trump is expected to sign the rollback. Congress used the CRA ...
The CFPB made significant changes to its rulemaking agenda in 2018, signaling a weakening role for the bureau in the financial services market. The agency released its spring 2018 rulemaking agenda last week. Noting that it’s under interim leadership pending the appointment and confirmation of a permanent director, the bureau said it is prioritizing meeting specific statutory responsibilities, continuing “selected rulemakings that were already underway,” and reconsidering ...
A group of Democratic senators is asking the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney violated the Hatch Act. The acting director last month said to bankers that he “had a hierarchy” in his office in Congress and only talked to lobbyists who gave him financial donations when he was a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina. “It raises troubling questions about whether his statements ran afoul of the Hatch Act ...
GSE earnings bounced back to a profitable status, as expected, in the first quarter, with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reporting a combined $7.2 billion profit. That number is up from the $9.4 billion earnings hit the GSEs took last quarter due to tax reform that went into effect in December 2017. [Includes one chart.]