Up until recently, if a mortgage joint venture of Wells Fargo asked its partner if the megabank was still feeling the love for joint ventures, the answer would’ve been yes. At least that’s the word from one JV executive who received the news recently that Wells was tossing all of its origination JVs overboard. Earlier in the year, the bank told its two largest JVs – HomeServices Lending and Prosperity Mortgage – that everything was hunky dory. Well, apparently not. Of course, both Home and Prosperity needn’t worry...

With the prospect of the qualified mortgage right around the bend for the mortgage lending industry, it could be easy for lenders to be so focused on getting their points-and-fees calculation to a point of near-perfection. But don't lose sight of your third-party vendors. Michael Chan, vice president at ComplianceEase in Burlingame, CA, gave some attendees at a recent Inside Mortgage Finance webinar on the QM a list of features and characteristics that should be part of a lender's every due diligence effort to vet and review a...

The CFPB should not proceed with a proposed telephone survey on credit card dispute resolution, three financial services trade groups said in a comment letter. First, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Consumer Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association said the proposed survey is inconsistent with the bureau’s mandate under the Consumer Financial Protection Act. Section 1028(a) of the CFPA provides that the bureau shall “conduct a study of, and shall provide a report to Congress concerning, the use of agreements...

Borrowers in the near-$1.2 trillion student loan market had a number of concerns about processing of payments, obtaining documentation about their loans, finding accurate information about their loan status and repayment options, and accessing basic account information, according to an updated mid‐year snapshot of private student loan complaints from the CFPB. Last October, the CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman’s first annual report identified servicing issues that were cited by private student loan borrowers in their complaints...

Congress and the White House may have cut many of the nation's student borrowers a break by enacting the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013, which restored lower interest rates for student loans after rates doubled on July 1. But the student lending industry is pleading with the CFPB to immediately provide private student loan providers with a 30-day compliance grace period for lenders and servicers to make the necessary changes to their systems so they can accurately disclose the interest rates for federal...

Even though the CFPB has yet to release its final rule and related forms under its consolidated consumer disclosure project, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently announced they are working on a standardized dataset to support the forms when the rule is finalized by the bureau, which is expected in October. The government-sponsored enterprises’ dataset is called the Uniform Closing Dataset, and is a component of Fannie’s and Freddie’s Uniform Mortgage Data Program, an ongoing effort to enhance the accuracy and quality of loan data...

The CFPB has recently posted new “response guidance” for companies when they log into their online company portal with the bureau. The guidance – some of it general in nature, some of it product-specific – supplements the bureau’s company portal manual, providing recommendations for documenting and responding to consumers' complaints based on the agency's best-practice observations. In terms of the general response guidance that applies to all products and response types, the CFPB suggests, first, when referencing past...

The Federal Trade Commission plans to ask the Office of Management and Budget to extend through Nov. 30, 2016, the current Paperwork Reduction Act clearance for the FTC’s shared enforcement with the CFPB of the information collection requirements in Regulation N (Mortgage Acts and Practices – Advertising). That clearance expires Nov. 30, 2013. The FTC is inviting public comments on a handful of related issues, the first of which is whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the...

The OCC plans to collaborate with CFPB examiners on reviews the OCC is undertaking of the debt sales practices of financial institutions under its jurisdiction. “Where OCC has been informed of CFPB reviews, resident OCC teams will collaborate with [the] CFPB, bringing both a safety and soundness and a consumer protection focus to these reviews,” the OCC said in a recent statement to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection. “Where examiners find unsafe and unsound...

CFPB, Justice Department Probing PNC, National City Over Disparate Impact. The CFPB and the Department of Justice are jointly investigating whether mortgage loan pricing by National City and PNC had a disparate impact on protected classes, PNC revealed in its latest 10Q. “In June 2013, PNC was advised by the CFPB that it had authorized settlement negotiations with PNC, as successor to National City Corp., and by the Department of Justice that it had authorized the filing of a civil complaint against PNC, also as successor to...