After Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, the Golden State will be the fourth state to establish a state-level agency to boost consumer financial protection.

The court-appointed CFPB defender said the petition challenging the bureau’s structure is “remarkably weak.” According to him, there is no basis “to take the grave step of invalidating an act of Congress.”

Consumer complaints filed with the CFPB regarding mortgages hit a record low in the final quarter of 2019, with double-digit declines in two categories. (Includes two data charts.)

The CFPB granted a no-action letter to Bank of America regarding its funding arrangement with HUD-certified housing counseling agencies. It marks the second no-action letter under the revised policy.

The bureau has picked a longtime critic to chair its task force to review federal consumer financial laws. The move has consumer advocates up in arms.

A Fed governor introduced the metric-based approach to reform the Community Reinvestment Act, which would assess mortgage lending to both low- and moderate-income borrowers and LMI communities.

The consumer watchdog sued two mortgage-related companies for allegedly selling credit reports they obtained under false pretenses to debt relief companies for their marketing purposes.

Senate Democrats urged the inspector general to investigate standards the bureau uses to calculate consumer restitution.

Important mortgage regulatory changes and robust examinations of financial institutions are on the consumer watchdog’s 2020 agenda, but all decisions are up in the air with the battle over the bureau’s constitutionality looming in court.