The Federal Reserve Office of Inspector General has begun an evaluation of the CFPB’s controversial headquarters renovation budget in response to a request from Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-NC, chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, the OIG revealed in its semi-annual report to Congress. “To address this congressional request, our objectives are to evaluate, with respect to the CFPB’s headquarters renovation project, (1) the capital budgeting and approval process, (2) the scope and justification for cost estimates, and (3) the use of competitive procedures,” the OIG said. It expects...
Director Cordray to Deliver Report to Senate Banking. CFPB Director Richard Cordray is scheduled to deliver his agency’s semi-annual report to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Tuesday, June 10, 2014. Cordray is the only person scheduled to appear before the committee during this event. His remarks will be posted on the committee’s website the day of the hearing, which will also be available for viewing live online. Look for coverage of the event in the next issue of Inside the CFPB. Bureau Plans Public Field Hearing on Mobile Financial Services. The CFPB plans...
How Not to Run a Website. The “links” section of the website of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee is so outdated, not only does it not have a link to the CFPB, arguably the majority’s favorite regulatory agency, it also has links to the Federal Housing Finance Board and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Both of those agencies were subsumed and replaced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency back in 2008. Not surprisingly, there also is no link on the committee’s website to the FHFA’s website. Meanwhile, neither fhfb.gov nor ofheo.gov have...
Among the 12 questions that the FHFA asks the public to consider is this: “If the enterprises [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] continue to raise g-fees, will overall loan originations decrease?”
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s effort to go after corporate executives in connection with its financial-crisis enforcement actions so far has led to 12 cases in which individuals were named as defendants or respondents. Individuals who have been included in CFPB complaints are primarily decision-makers or a party to the consumer transaction. Under the law, they include not only providers of consumer financial products or services, but also those with managerial responsibilities and a “material” participant in the transaction. Individual accountability is...
The odds seem to be increasing that student loan servicers are going to face tougher legislation or regulation – or both – as members of Congress and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau pay more attention to the sector. During a hearing this week of the Senate Banking Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-OH, drew a comparison between the mortgage market’s collapse and the resulting financial crisis and today’s student loan market – with an emphasis on the role of servicers in both contexts. Last year, Brown wrote...
A New York federal judge was out of line and beyond his discretionary authority when he rejected the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed $285 million settlement with Citigroup in 2011 stemming from the bank’s alleged mishandling of MBS, an appeals court ruled this week. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the district court’s order, holding that Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York abused his discretion by applying an incorrect legal standard to his review of the settlement. Rakoff refused to accept the deal between the SEC and Citi because it did not contain an admission or denial of guilt. The appeals court held...
One last thought on Mel Watt, FHFA and expanding the credit box: Members of the GOP who were big boosters of the recently departed Ed DeMarco will probably read the g-fee comment notice and have a fit…
Before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau implemented standards for qualified mortgages, few lenders admitted that they were willing to offer non-QMs. However, in recent weeks, a number of lenders have touted their entrance into the sector, providing Ethos Lending with plenty of competition. Some of the non-QM lenders are sticking to relatively safe offerings of interest-only mortgages to well-qualified borrowers, while others see a strong market in non-QMs for borrowers that might not qualify for agency financing. This week, Caliber Home Loans announced...
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