A handful of industry trade groups urged the CFPB to solicit public comment on its arbitration study before it considers rulemaking on the subject. The groups, which have made similar requests in personal meetings with CFPB officials, said a formal comment period is essential to ensure transparency and to obtain thorough feedback on the 729-page report from all interested parties. “It is impossible for anyone – regardless of point of view – to provide anything other than generalized reactions regarding the study during the one- to two-hour roundtable sessions that the bureau has convened to obtain comment, particularly because these sessions seek input from multiple parties at the same time,” said the trade groups. As they see it, written comments are the ...

Financial institutions demonstrated a big improvement in the way they handled money transfers in the first quarter. The same could not be said for the money-transfer specialists. The performance of these companies was noticeably more uneven in the period ending March 31, 2015, according to the latest Inside the CFPB review of the CFPB’s consumer complaint database. Among the big three money-transfer companies – Western Union, MoneyGram and PayPal – Western Union did the best, seeing zero change from the fourth quarter of last year and an 18.8 percent drop year over year. MoneyGram did the worst of the three, with complaints up 72.9 percent from the fourth quarter and up 53.7 percent from a year ago. PayPal saw a 7.3 percent ...

Industry Groups Urge Restructuring of CFPB. Wading into risky political territory, a number of industry groups last week urged Congress to support H.R. 1266, legislation that would revamp the governing structure of the CFPB. Submitting a statement for the record to the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, the industry groups said consumers and the industry would be better served by changing the CFPB governance structure from a single director to a bipartisan five-person commission as used by other federal agencies. “The CFPB has tremendous authority to supervise a multi-trillion dollar industry, which as we have learned, can have incredible ramifications on our economy,” the statement said. “As such, it is imperative the CFPB remain stable ...

But the combined Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act disclosures may not be as bad as many seem to fear.

The changes allow eligible non-borrowing spouses with older Home-Equity Conversion Mortgages the potential to remain in their home following the death of the last surviving HECM borrower.

Lenders provided a few constructive suggestions while voicing frustration regarding state regulators’ data collection efforts.

Following a four-month trial and nine days of deliberations, a New York jury acquitted Abacus and two of its senior officers...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency needs to be more forthright about its plans to expand the credit-risk transfer activities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to a bipartisan group of lawmakers on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. In a letter sent to FHFA Director Mel Watt this week, the six senators said the agency’s public guidance on the program “lacks specificity, metrics and long-term direction.” Watt and other FHFA officials have talked about risk transfers by the two government-sponsored enterprises, but most of the description of the program is somewhat vaguely outlined in the agency’s strategic plan and the so-called 2015 scorecard. The bipartisan group, which includes Sens. Mark Warner, D-VA, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, urged...

Beginning June 15, rating services involved in MBS and ABS will be subject to increased disclosure standards from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Rating services expect to make a number of changes to comply with the final rule that was issued last August, with some concerns about the usefulness of the increased disclosures. The SEC is requiring nationally recognized statistical rating organizations to disclose rating histories, make changes to rating methodologies and disclose details on findings by third-party due diligence providers, among other issues. Moody’s Investors Service noted...

The average bid on the benchmark Fannie Mae 30-year 3.50 percent MBS fell to 102.2 this week compared to 104.5 earlier in the month, leaving some market watchers feeling sick to their stomachs. The general fear is that MBS prices may fall further over the short term as interest rates rise. The question for many boils down to the basics: Where will mortgages settle? As Inside MBS & ABS went to press this week, the yield on the 10-year Treasury reached...