Late last week, PHH Corp. followed up on the opportunity afforded it by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and filed its legal response to the arguments the Department of Justice made late last year in defense of the CFPB’s petition for an en banc rehearing in its dispute with the mortgage lender.The DOJ’s brief “asserts support for rehearing en banc, but not for any of the reasons advanced by the CFPB,” PHH said. “Indeed, the brief never actually defends the CFPB’s structure as consistent with the Constitution. Nor does the brief claim anywhere that the panel erred in its choice of remedy, its decision to reach the separation-of-powers issue, or its discussion of ...
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, late last week submitted a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit seeking to intervene on behalf of the CFPB in its action against PHH Corp. “Movants now seek to intervene in this litigation because recent events have made it clear that their interests in preserving the leadership structure they voted for [in enacting the Dodd-Frank Act] may no longer be adequately represented by the new administration,” Brown and Waters argued. “Indeed, absent intervention, it is possible that the panel’s decision will be insulated from review, thus nullifying movants’ votes to establish the CFPB as an independent agency and their ability to establish similar independent ...
In a case of potential significance for any company that finds itself the recipient of a civil investigative demand from the CFPB, a finance company has filed suit to prevent the bureau from disclosing its investigation of the firm and from taking any action against it unless and until the agency is restructured in line with the U.S. Constitution. “Plaintiff moves for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction prohibiting the CFPB and its director from using the executive, legislative and judicial powers delegated to the bureau to impose any restriction on plaintiffs’ liberty or otherwise take any action adverse to plaintiff unless and until the bureau is constitutionally structured,” said the company. The corporate entity, chartered in California with ...
President Donald Trump recently imposed a moratorium on new and pending regulations, which is generally considered by industry experts and observers standard operating procedure for an incoming presidential administration. But the bad news for the mortgage industry is that most of the regulations from the CFPB have already been issued. Two possible exceptions are the bureau’s Home Mortgage Disclosure Act final rule, which has been issued in final form but is not yet effective, as well as its TRID 2.0 clarifying rulemaking, which is expected in final form sometime this spring. In a memo issued by White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, unspecified “executive departments and agencies” were generally directed to “send no regulation to the Office of the ...
The CFPB last week slapped CitiFinancial Servicing and CitiMortgage a relatively modest $28.8 million for allegedly keeping struggling borrowers in the dark about options available to save their homes. The bureau’s action had to do with the company’s origination and servicing of residential daily simple interest mortgages, especially as they relate to deferments. The CFPB accused CitiFinancial Servicing of misleading consumers about the effect of deferring payment due dates, charging consumers for credit insurance that should have been canceled, prematurely cancelling credit insurance for some borrowers, sending inaccurate consumer information to credit reporting companies, and failing to investigate consumer disputes. The bureau is requiring CitiMortgage to pay an estimated $17.0 million to compensate wronged consumers, and to pay a civil ...
JPMorgan Chase Bank last week agreed to a $53 million settlement with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, bringing to a close allegations of discriminatory lending against minority borrowers through its wholesale-broker channel in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Fair Housing Act. According to the consent order, prior to January 2006 and continuing until early 2009, Chase originated and funded residential mortgage loans through a wholesale channel. “Applications for these loans were brought to Chase by thousands of independent mortgage brokers throughout the United States who had entered into contracts with Chase for the purpose of bringing mortgage loan applications to it for origination and funding.” Also, from 2006 to 2009, approximately ...
Putting in place a successor-in-interest confirmation process that complies with the CFPB’s updated mortgage servicing rules is going to be a big hurdle for mortgage servicers to overcome, according to attorneys with the Bradley law firm. “Arguably the most significant element of the recent amendments to the existing mortgage servicing regulatory framework by the CFPB is the new structure that has been laid out for dealing with potential and confirmed successors in interest,” the attorneys said in a recent online blog post.As they see it, fully complying with the new rule is going to require a significant amount of institutional exertion, no matter a servicer’s size. “One of the more time-intensive – and therefore costly – aspects of the rule is ...
Republicans Again Introduce Legislation to Change CFPB Leadership Structure to a Board. Republican Sens. Deb Fischer (NE), Ron Johnson (WI) and John Barrasso (WY), recently introduced S. 105, legislation that would replace the CFPB’s single-director leadership structure with a bipartisan, five-member board. ... Cordray Assures CFPB Staff Re: PHH Dispute in October Email. In an Oct. 17, 2016, email to “all hands” at the CFPB, a copy of which was obtained by Inside the CFPB, the agency’s director, Richard Cordray, offered some words of reassurance in light of the decision by the three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals that found the bureau’s leadership structure was unconstitutional. ...
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