The Congressional Research Service recently reviewed the D.C. Circuit’s January 2013 decision in Noel Canning v. National Labor Relations Board, and came to the conclusion that nearly all of the CFPB’s rulemakings could be validated by the Treasury Secretary, should President Obama’s recess appointment of Richard Cordray as bureau director be similarly declared unconstitutional. If Director Cordray’s appointment was not valid, the only CFPB rules the Secretary could not ratify are its “larger participant” rules for...

David Silberman, the CFPB’s associate director for research, markets and regulations, told four House Republican members that the bureau’s previously announced arbitration study is proceeding, reiterating its now-common rejection of any applicability of the ruling in Noel Canning v. National Labor Relations Board. The recent Canning determination “did not involve the CFPB and has no effect on the bureau’s work, including the statutorily-required study of mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements,” Silberman told the House...

Tim Duncan, a former Treasury official who helped start the CFPB, is moving closer to launching a technology initiative that will help third-party lenders stay in compliance with upcoming agency rules.Duncan notes that come January of next year, wholesalers and correspondent buyers of residential loans will be responsible for complying with consumer protection laws even though they do not produce mortgages themselves through retail means. His web venture, The Consumer Protection Platform, is designed to protect loan...

The CFPB put out a report last week that highlights problems with more than 50 “senior designation” credentials that many financial advisers use to market their services to older Americans. “With such a bewildering array of titles and acronyms, it is no wonder that older Americans are confused and misled,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. The report “underscores the need for consistent high-level standards of training and conduct for those advisers who want to acquire a bona fide senior designation.” The report found that the...

McConnell Wants to Make ‘Reasonable’ Reforms to the CFPB. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, told attendees at an American Bankers Association’s government relations event last week that the Dodd‐Frank Act was “a huge mistake,” and that Congress needs to mitigate the law’s harm to the banking industry – especially through the CFPB. “We need to change the structure of [the CFPB] to make it responsible to someone,” he explained. “We’ve said we need a supervisory board to which the director reports. We think the...

Banking regulators acknowledged problems with the foreclosure reviews conducted by the nation's megabanks and have agreed to evaluate the use of independent consultants in regulatory actions.

Expect quality control to be the single most critical component at the top of a long list of requirements for prospective lenders seeking to do business with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to agency officials and experts during an Inside Mortgage Finance webinar this week. The two government-sponsored enterprises are ready, willing and able to do business with new seller/servicer partners, if they are prepared to demonstrate, in a transparent and painstaking way, they are an opportunity to Fannie or Freddie and not a risk, National Union Mortgage President and CEO Bill Cosgrove told webinar attendees. “It’s really all about quality control. Every area of your organization has to be...

Just how healthy is the residential mortgage business these days? Answer: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are swamped with seller/servicer applications.

Bank of America agreed this week to pay $500 million to settle lawsuits from investors in non-agency mortgage-backed securities issued by Countrywide Financial in 2005 through 2007. If it receives judicial approval, the settlement on about $15.0 billion in non-agency MBS will be the largest-ever non-agency MBS class-action recovery. “After five years of hard-fought litigation, this record-breaking recovery is a tremendous result for MBS investors misled by Countrywide and ...

The Obama administration’s 2014 budget proposal calls for a Home Affordable Refinance Program for non-agency borrowers, although prospects for getting legislation through Congress remain slim. The proposed budget included a small section entitled “finish the task on universal refinancing for responsible homeowners.” The section noted that the Obama administration worked with the government-sponsored enterprises in 2012 to double the number of HARP refinances for GSE borrowers with negative equity ...