David Silberman, associate director for research, markets and regulation at the CFPB, appeared before the Senate Special Committee on Aging last week, mostly summarizing and discussing the bureau’s recent white paper on payday loans and deposit advance products – and revealing more regulation or oversight may be in the offing. “The bureau intends to continue its study of small dollar loan products to better understand why some consumers are able to use these products in a light to moderate way, while others seem to get trapped in a...

Corey Stone, assistant director in the CFPB’s Office of Deposits, Cash, Collections and Reporting Markets, indicated at a Senate hearing on debt collection earlier this month that the bureau might promulgate national documentation standards, perhaps in coordination with the Federal Trade Commission. Testifying before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, Stone discussed the recent joint roundtable the bureau and the FTC held on debt collection...

More than a dozen Democrat members of the U.S. Senate have written the CFPB and the Department of Labor expressing concerns about fees paid by low‐wage workers using payroll cards and urging them to move quickly to protect American workers. “We strongly believe that your agencies have the capability to protect workers from at least some of the excessive fees and harmful practices associated with payroll cards,” the senators said. Therefore, they asked the agencies to take a closer look at whether workers adequately understand these fees...

Bureau Staffers May be “Most Lavishly Paid” Fed Workers. “Hundreds of CFPB officials are paid more than Supreme Court Justices, senior White House officials, members of Congress, and all 50 state governors,” the Washington Examiner news organization reported recently, based on its analysis of salary data for the bureau’s 1,204 workers. For example, according to the Examiner, the CFPB pays 56 employees more than the $199,700 Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke receives. And 111 bureau employees are paid more than the...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced a settlement this week with UBS Americas regarding non-agency mortgage-backed securities purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac between 2004 and 2007. It is the third settlement out of 18 similar lawsuits filed by the FHFA in 2011 and the first to include a disclosed dollar amount. The FHFA said UBS will pay a combined ... [Includes two briefs]

Several provisions in FHA solvency legislation are emerging as potential hot-button issues for lenders, according to legal experts. There is growing industry concern over indemnification provisions, which appear to be more stringent in the Senate’s FHA Solvency Act of 2013 than in H.R. 2767, Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act (PATH Act), which the House Financial Services Committee passed this week. Under Title II (FHA reform) of the PATH Act, a lender may be required to indemnify the FHA if the agency determines that ...

The House Financial Services Committee this week reported out a legislative package of housing finance system reforms, including measures designed to reduce FHA’s role in the mortgage marketplace, strengthen lender oversight and avoid a potential taxpayer bailout. The bill, Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act (H.R. 2767), passed by a vote of 30 to 27 despite mixed responses from industry experts, academics, financial trade associations and consumer advocates. Critics called for changes. Offered by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, the bill proposes ...

FHA officials, industry groups and consumer advocates appear to be leaning more towards a Senate FHA reform bill that is moderate and far less ambitious than legislation approved by the House Financial Services Committee this week. Introduced by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Ranking Minority Member Mike Crapo, R-ID, the FHA Solvency Act of 2013 “focuses on the right issues, not like the House bill, which tries to dramatically alter the program and affect borrower eligibility,” said an industry observer. Testifying as the sole witness at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on FHA solvency this week, FHA Commissioner Carol Galante said ...

A former FHA commissioner said he supports a proposal in the Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act (PATH Act) to spin off the FHA from the Department of Housing and Urban Development as an independent government-owned corporation. Brian Montgomery, who was assistant secretary for housing and head of the FHA during the Bush administration, said the separation, if enacted, would transfer authority, resources and personnel from HUD to the FHA to manage the insurance fund. “This is something I have advocated both during and after my more than four-year tenure as FHA commissioner,” said Montgomery, who ...

The FHA is trailing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Department of Veterans Affairs in the disposition of real estate-owned properties, according to a new study from the Government Accountability Office. The study found that FHA’s net proceeds from REO sales from January 2007 through June 2012 were about 4 to 6 percentage points lower than Fannie’s and Freddie’s returns. The differences in combined returns between FHA and the government-sponsored enterprises persisted at an estimated 2 to 5 percent even after controlling for differences in value, location, market conditions and other relevant factors. In addition, the FHA took about ...