The CFPB recently brought a $4 million enforcement action against Wells Fargo, alleging the bank engaged in illegal private student loan servicing practices that increased costs and unfairly penalized certain student loan borrowers. “Wells Fargo hit borrowers with illegal fees and deprived others of critical information needed to effectively manage their student loan accounts,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. The bureau said it identified breakdowns throughout Wells Fargo’s servicing process, such as failing to provide important payment information to consumers, charging consumers illegal fees, and failing to update inaccurate credit report information. One of the CFPB’s charges against the company was that it processed payments in a way that maximized fees for many consumers. “Specifically, if a borrower made a ...

The American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association and The Financial Services Roundtable told the CFPB its controversial arbitration proposed rule “is not in the public interest, is not for the protection of consumers, and is not consistent with the CFPB’s March 2015 empirical study of arbitration,” as their attorneys at Ballard Spahr succinctly summarized their joint comment letter. Further, the groups urged the bureau to withdraw its proposal and to refrain from re-issuing another unless it is consistent with the statutory requirements of Section 1028 of the Dodd-Frank Act. “First, the proposed rule is not ‘in the public interest,’ nor does it meet the requirement to provide for consumer protection, because it would inflict serious financial harm on consumers ...

CFPB Proposes Changes to FOIA Procedures, Treatment of Information; Would Expand Disclosure of Confidential Supervisory Information to State AGs. The CFPB has proposed amendments to the procedures used by the public to obtain information from the bureau under the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act of 1974, and in legal proceedings.... Bank of America Close to Fulfilling Settlement Obligations. Bank of America has conditionally fulfilled more than 91 percent of its obligation to provide $7 billion worth of consumer relief under the terms of its historic mortgage settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and six states, according to Eric Green, the independent monitor of the agreement...

Although the new requirements could prompt an increase in costs, analysts said a new requirement aimed at increasing the number of times troubled borrowers are evaluated for loss mitigation will be particularly helpful in certain states…

HUD has been criticized by consumer advocates who feel the agency's NPL auctions have unfairly benefitted private equity firms and hedge funds at the expense of troubled borrowers.

A proposed rule published by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. earlier in the year regarding recordkeeping requirements would “unnecessarily increase costs for banks and servicers,” according to George Green, an associate vice president at the Mortgage Bankers Association. The proposed rule would apply to depositories with more than two million deposit accounts. Under the regulation, banks would generally be required to maintain complete and ...

Proponents of the mortgage interest tax deduction point out that the real estate and mortgage industries employ thousands upon thousands of workers with spillover to other sectors...

A high profile shareholder’s request to access Freddie Mac’s corporate records was shot down in a case dismissal last week as a federal court ruled that all shareholder rights were transferred to the Federal Housing Finance Agency during the conservatorship. In Timothy J. Pagliara v. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, plaintiff Tim Pagliara, chief executive of CapWealth Advisors and the executive director of Investors Unite, a GSE shareholders group, filed a lawsuit in court in March to gain access to Freddie’s records, as an individual stockholder. He owns approximately 346,000 shares of Freddie’s junior preferred stock, according to court documents.

One former GSE executive lost his severance package case and another settled in a long-standing civil fraud lawsuit. Both cases came to a conclusion last week. Anthony Piszel, former chief financial officer at Freddie Mac, appealed a judgment from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissing his complaint that Freddie owed him payment for his “golden parachute” compensation after he was terminated without cause at the start of the conservatorship. The question came down to whether or not a government prohibition on making golden parachute payments to terminated Freddie employees was illegal or not. Piszel was terminated two weeks after...

Originators were asked if TRID has affected their willingness to originate small loans. Roughly 53.8 percent said “no change,” while 46.2 percent said “yes, moderately.”