The Trump administration has released a proposed fiscal year 2019 budget that envisions big changes for the CFPB. According to budget documents, the White House is proposing to restructure the bureau, limit its mandatory funding in 2019, and provide discretionary, congressional appropriations to fund the agency beginning in 2020. Many of the proposed changes would require revisions to the bureau’s charter by Congress that would likely face a difficult path to enactment ...
The CFPB under the leadership of Acting Director Mick Mulvaney last week issued its latest five-year plan that differs markedly from the previous one in that it takes a more industry-friendly posture than the last one that was issued back in 2013 under the Richard Cordray era. “If there is one way to summarize the strategic changes occurring at the bureau, it is this: we have committed to fulfill the bureau’s statutory responsibilities, but go no further,” Mulvaney said. “By hewing to the statute ...
The House of Representatives last week voted 271-145 to approve targeted legislation to address the disclosure of certain charges in the Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act integrated disclosure, or TRID. H.R. 3978, the TRID Improvement Act of 2017, would require the CFPB to allow for the calculation of discounted title insurance rates that companies may offer to consumers for policies that cover both the lender and the homeowner. The bill was introduced ...
The House of Representatives has passed H.R. 1153, “The Mortgage Choice Act,” legislation that would make two adjustments to the Truth in Lending Act definition of points and fees regarding title fees charged by affiliates of the lender. The bill aims to make more loans eligible for qualified-mortgage status by excluding points and fees paid for affiliated title charges and escrow charges for insurance and taxes. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, explained ...
The New York Times raised more than a few eyebrows last week when it reported that President Trump is considering having Mick Mulvaney step in as White House chief of staff in the wake of yet another high-level staff departure. Mulvaney currently has two major jobs – director of the Office of Management and Budget and acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That unusual juggling act has generated some criticism from Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts ...
In another leg of CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney’s “call for evidence,” the agency has issued a request for feedback on its enforcement processes. The agency “is seeking comments and information from interested parties to assist the bureau in assessing the overall efficiency and effectiveness of its processes related to the enforcement of federal consumer financial law, and, consistent with the law, considering whether any changes to these processes would be appropriate,” it said ...
In addition to the formal request for information the CFPB issued on its enforcement processes, the agency also put out an RFI addressing its supervisory processes. “The bureau is seeking comments and information from interested parties to assist in assessing the overall efficiency and effectiveness of its supervision program and whether any changes to the program would be appropriate,” the agency said. “This RFI will provide an opportunity for the public to submit feedback and suggest ...
The Community Home Lenders Association and the Community Mortgage Lenders of America sent a joint letter to CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, asking for regulatory streamlining of smaller independent mortgage bankers (IMBs) through risk-based supervision, citing the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act. Specifically, their correspondence referenced a statutory requirement, Dodd-Frank subsection 1024(b)(2), under which the bureau is required to tailor its supervision of non-banks ...