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...

Lenders would be well served to periodically re-assess the fair lending impact of their policies especially in regard to the qualified mortgage rule.

Agency issuance of single-family MBS declined modestly in July, according to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS, with most of the decline coming in Freddie Mac’s business. The three government MBS agencies issued a total of $144.26 billion in single-family MBS last month, down 2.5 percent from June’s level. It was the lowest monthly production level so far in 2013, and issuance has generally drifted lower since peaking in January. July did push the year-to-date total for 2013 over the $1 trillion mark, up 17.9 percent from the first seven months of last year. The biggest shift was...[Includes one data chart]

The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed similar lawsuits this week against Bank of America regarding an $855.67 million non-agency jumbo MBS issued in January 2008. The lawsuits claim that BofA failed to disclose key facts regarding one of the last jumbo deals to be issued before the securitization market essentially closed in 2008. BofA counters that the securities were sold to sophisticated investors that had “ample access” to the underlying data. BofA was the issuer of the security in question – Banc of America Mortgage 2008-A Trust – as well as the originator, servicer, sponsor and depositor, and affiliated entities managed the transaction. The regulators allege...

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. would be prohibited from repudiating covered bonds when resolving a failed banking institution under the provisions of a controversial housing reform bill put together by the Republican leadership of the House Financial Services Committee and passed out of committee last week. That prohibition would go a long way toward resolving the long-standing hurdles that have thwarted development of a covered bond market in the United States. But it also amps up the level of controversy associated with H.R. 2767, the Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act of 2013, introduced by Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, and Rep. Scott Garrett, R-NJ, the architect of a covered bonds bill introduced in the 112th Congress. The relevant provisions in the PATH Act are...

Fannie Mae said that, assuming publication of the CFPB final rule comes in the fall, more information will be available later in 2013 on implementation plans.