The CFPB has released its five-year strategic plan, including four key goals, 11 desired outcomes, and 25 strategies that indicate the actions the bureau plans to take to accomplish its outcomes. The plan also features 27 performance measures that the CFPB will track against specific targets in order to assess its progress toward achieving those outcomes, as well as four performance indicators that do not reflect specific targets. Its first two goals are to prevent financial harm to consumers while promoting good...

The Federal Reserve Office of Inspector General has a number of audits and evaluations of various aspects of the CFPB underway, and more are in the pipeline, according to the latest OIG work plan, which was updated recently. The reviews are a regular part of the Fed OIG’s responsibilities under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The OIG has one project underway that it expects to complete sometime during the third quarter of the year, and that is an evaluation of the bureau’s Consumer...

Just exactly how the CFPB plans to define “qualified mortgages” in its forthcoming ability-to-repay proposed rule remains uncertain after the bureau’s chief, Richard Cordray, testified before the House Financial Services Committee last month. Cordray indicated the bureau has not yet decided whether it plans to adopt a safe harbor, which is the industry’s preferred standard, or the rebuttable presumption approach, which is the standard consumer advocates are pushing for. He also suggested that some of the differences...

The CFPB said it wants to make it more expensive for lenders to break the law than to obey it. That message was sent loud and clear last week when the bureau and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced a $200 million joint enforcement action against Discover Bank over some of the company’s credit card marketing practices.Discover will also have to pay $14 million in a civil money penalty to be split 50/50 by the CFPB and the Department of the Treasury. The $200 million is to be divided among more than 3.5 million...

Prospects for the long-awaited information-sharing agreement between the state attorneys general and the CFPB are suddenly noticeably darker. Not only has a group of Republican state AGs apparently refused to sign the pending memorandum of understanding, three GOP state AGs have joined a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the law that created the bureau. News accounts emerged last week that a number of Republican state AGs have reportedly refused to sign the MOU that was developed to protect...

CitiMortgage this week paid in excess of $122.8 million to the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund as part of its agreement with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice to settle alleged violations of the False Claims Act. The payment to the FHA insurance fund is part of the $158.3 million settlement, which CitiMortgage agreed to in order to resolve charges of submitting false certifications to HUD regarding its compliance with FHA’s direct endorsement lender rules and endorsement of poorly underwritten loans for FHA insurance. These violations allegedly occurred between ...

New temporary guidelines for approving FHA financing for condominium projects should boost sales of condo units across the country and improve current housing market conditions, according to industry stakeholders. The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the guideline changes on Sept. 13 after extensive consultations with industry participants. Effective for all condo project approvals and recertifications, the revised guidelines will apply until Aug. 31, 2014, unless extended by the FHA. Stakeholders are confident that the changes, though temporary, will be ...

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney aims to replace the Dodd-Frank Act and reform the government-sponsored enterprises, according to the latest housing policy statement from the Republican presidential candidate and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI, his vice presidential running mate. “The Romney-Ryan plan will reduce the outsized role of the government and revitalize the private sector’s role in the housing market to end the housing crisis and preserve the American dream of homeownership,” according to ...

The National Credit Union Administration filed a lawsuit this week against Barclays Capital alleging misrepresentations in the sale of non-agency mortgage-backed securities to credit unions that subsequently failed. The NCUA said U.S. Central Federal Credit Union and Western Corporate Federal Credit Union paid more than $555 million for the non-agency MBS in question. Debbie Matz, chairman of the NCUA Board, said Barclays issued faulty disclosures on non-agency MBS it underwrote ... [Includes two briefs]

Thomas Hoenig, a director at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., last week called for changes to impending Basel III capital standards. Industry analysts have warned that the rules will discourage origination of nontraditional mortgages. “In private discussions I find a good deal of uneasiness about Basel III’s ability to be more effective than previous Basel efforts; however, there is a sense that we cannot go back,” Hoenig said in a speech. “I suggest that we not only can go back, we must.” ...