The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee plans to hold a hearing Tuesday, March 12, on President Barack Obama’s renomination of Richard Cordray to be director of the CFPB, this time for a five-year term, as opposed to the two-year term he’s currently serving under the president’s recess appointment. But there’s not much sign yet of any deal between supporters and opponents, according to most political observers. Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN, a member of the committee, said that after conversations over the past few weeks...
The CFPB and other federal defendants have filed to dismiss a legal challenge to the bureau’s authority to identify “unfair, deceptive, or abusive” acts or practices, and the related assertion that President Obama’s appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the bureau was invalid because the Senate allegedly was not in recess at the time of the appointment. The case is State National Bank of Big Spring, et al., v. Neal S. Wolin, in his official capacity as Acting United States Secretary of the Treasury and ex officio Chairperson...
The Department of Justice has filed a 20-page brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in an attempt to dissuade the court from embracing the D.C. Circuit Court’s ruling in Noel Canning v. National Labor Relations Board, in which the court declared unconstitutional President Obama’s recess appointments of three members of the NLRB. “The Noel Canning decision conflicts with nearly two centuries of executive branch practice and the decisions of three other courts of appeals, two of them sitting en banc,” Beth...
A legal argument by the CFPB in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case, Marx v. General Revenue Corp., was recently rejected by the Supreme Court of the United States. The SCOTUS ruled that a prevailing defendant can recoup costs even if there is not a court finding that the plaintiff filed suit in bad faith and for the purpose of harassment. In this case, petitioner Marx filed suit, alleging that General Revenue Corp. (GRC) violated the FDCPA by harassing and falsely threatening her in order to collect on...
The National Association of Federal Credit Unions urged the CFPB to make sure the bureau’s integrated disclosures on mortgage loans under the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act are useful to consumers and impose as little burden as possible on credit unions. NAFCU Senior Regulatory Affairs Counsel Tessema Tefferi wrote to the CFPB about its proposal to conduct quantitative testing in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 of the performance of the current vs. proposed disclosures. NAFCU lodged serious concerns...
The Mortgage Bankers Association has asked the CFPB to clarify whether mortgages subject to repurchase demands will lose their “qualified mortgage” status under the bureau’s new ability-to-repay rule. “The rule does not address whether loans that are subject to repurchase demands will lose their QM status based on deficiencies,” the industry trade group said in a comment letter filed with the CFPB recently. “MBA strongly believes they should not, absent fraud. However, clarification is needed.” The Consumer Mortgage Coalition...
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors, the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators and the American Council of State Savings Supervisors submitted a joint comment letter to the bureau expressing strong support for the CFPB’s proposed small-creditor amendment, which was issued along with the ability-to-repay final rule back in January. “CSBS, AARMR and ACSSS have a long-standing policy that regulations should not hinder an insured depository institution’s willingness to engage in portfolio lending, and...
The mortgage lending industry is confronting an unprecedented number of substantive compliance challenges from the half-dozen rules promulgated in January by the CFPB, leading industry representatives are making increasingly clear. For instance, the loan originator compensation rule itself presents a variety of challenges, Amy Thoreson Long, senior counsel in the consumer lending division of Wells Fargo’s law department, told participants in a recent webinar hosted by Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated newsletter...
The CFPB and state mortgage regulators appear to be hitting their stride in establishing a good working relationship when it comes to coordinating their examinations, including the development of an information-sharing protocol state officials hope will further improve efficiencies. Throughout 2012, representatives of the Multi-State Mortgage Committee of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors met regularly with various officials at the bureau to make sure examination scheduling and information sharing...
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