“The new guys are quickly gaining on the traditional players,” said Ginnie president Ted Tozer. “Some have grown from zero to $5 billion to $10 billion overnight. We’re concerned about their infrastructure and capital.”
The CFPB remains quite concerned about the risks consumers face from the sustained high volume of mortgage servicing transfers and issued new guidance that highlights what its examiners will pay keen attention to going forward. “The CFPB advises mortgage servicers that its examiners will be carefully reviewing servicers’ compliance with federal consumer financial laws applicable to servicing transfers,” the new guidance stated. These will include Regulation X under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Regulation Z under the Truth in Lending Act, Regulation V under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’s prohibitions on unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAPs). At the top of ...
The CFPB recently fined auto finance company First Investors Financial Services Group Inc. $2.75 million for allegedly failing to fix known flaws in a computer system that was providing inaccurate information to credit reporting agencies. The bureau also ordered the Houston-based company to fix its errors and change its business practices. The CFPB said its investigation found that First Investors furnished inaccurate information about its customers to credit reporting agencies for at least three years. “When First Investors discovered the problem in April 2011, it notified the vendor but did nothing more,” the CFPB said. “The company did not replace the system or take any steps to correct the inaccurate information it had supplied. “It continued for years to use ...
Global Client Solutions, a leading debt-settlement payment processor based in Tulsa, OK, agreed to pay over $6 million in relief to consumers, as well as a $1 million civil penalty, to resolve allegations by the CFPB that the firm helped other companies to collect tens of millions of dollars in illegal upfront fees from consumers. Final settlement is pending federal district court approval. The CFPB accused Global Client Solutions and its two principals, Robert Merrick and Michael Hendrix, of violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule by making it possible for debt-settlement companies to charge consumers illegal upfront fees. The rule prohibits debt-settlement companies from charging consumers advance fees before settling any of their debts. The rule is intended to protect consumers ...
Some industry representatives are worried about maintaining the privacy of consumer personal data in the context of expanding the CFPB’s complaint database with consumer narratives, as the bureau recently proposed. Meanwhile, others fret that financial services companies will be unjustifiably smeared by rumors and false accusations. “[W]e have grave concerns that the CFPB’s public database of complaint information puts consumers’ nonpublic personal information at risk of public discovery,” said the Consumer Mortgage Coalition. “The CFPB now proposes to expand the amount and types of information it will publish, which increases the risk and extent of inappropriate breaches of consumer’s privacy without their knowledge.” In the new age of “Big Data,” concerns about the privacy of consumers’ personal information are heightened ...
The American Bankers Association has weighed in once again on the CFPB’s proposed information collection request filed with the Office of Management and Budget to survey consumers about their experience with debt collection – this time asking it be shut down entirely. In its first comment on an earlier iteration of the bureau’s request, the ABA expressed general support for a consumer survey. However, the industry group identified “significant design and methodological concerns” and suggested changes to the survey instrument and its administration that the banking industry believes will improve the integrity and practical utility of the proposed information collection. Unfortunately, in the revised proposal, the CFPB responds “only perfunctorily to stakeholder comments and reflects very little real change to the ...
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