Mortgage lenders say they support the CFPB’s overall effort to integrate and simplify the consumer disclosures required under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, but they’re also urging the bureau to proceed at a more deliberate pace when it comes to implementing such integration. In a public comment letter to the bureau, the Mortgage Bankers Association made three overarching points, the first of which is that the agency should continue to focus its energy on the enormous job of...
Staffing levels at the CFPB grew from about 663 employees as of the end of fiscal year 2011 to 970 as of the end of FY 2012 (Sept. 30), an increase of 46.3 percent, according to the bureau’s financial report for FY 2012. By way of comparison, in the first quarter of FY11, the bureau had just 58 positions filled. The CFPB’s division of supervision, enforcement and fair lending had 46.9 percent of employed staff, the division of research, markets and regulations 9.0 percent, as of the end of FY12. The legal division...
The CFPB recently launched Project Catalyst, an initiative it said is designed to encourage consumer] friendly innovation and entrepreneurship in markets for consumer financial products and services. gProject Catalyst is our effort to foster consumer-friendly innovation in the marketplace,h the bureau said. Through Project Catalyst, the CFPB is calling on innovators and entrepreneurs to help it by gimprovingh financial regulation to gbetter foster consumer]friendly innovation,h and in...
Two legal cases remain in play that are challenging some controversial recess appointments made by President Barack Obama earlier this year, one directly challenging the appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the CFPB, and another that has implications for the case. In the former, State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, et al. v. Geithner, et al., currently before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, federal bank regulatory agencies last week told a judge that the lawsuit should be...
Agencies Announce Increases in Dollar Thresholds for Exempt Consumer Credit and Lease Transactions. The CFPB and the Federal Reserve Board last week announced increases in the dollar thresholds in Regulation Z (Truth in Lending Act) and Regulation M (Consumer Leasing Act) for exempt consumer credit and lease transactions. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires yearly adjustments to these thresholds by the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage...
Mortgage lenders of all sizes and stripes got some breathing room late last week when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced it was delaying the effective date of some new requirements under its integrated mortgage disclosure project to provide a more seamless integration with other mortgage disclosures the agency has proposed. The delay applies to more than a dozen disclosures, including those on the cancellation of escrow accounts, consumersf liability for debt payment after foreclosure, and the creditor acceptance of partial payment. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the new disclosures were scheduled to take effect Jan. 21, 2013. gTo avoid potential consumer confusion and reduce compliance burden for industry, the bureau plans...
The CFPB is widely expected to proceed as fast as possible with its heavy regulatory and rulemaking responsibilities, now that President Barack Obama has fended off his Republican challenger for the White House, Mitt Romney, and Democrats have strengthened their control of the U.S. Senate. Created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the CFPB has a single director, a limitless funding stream via the Federal Reserve, and little congressional oversight as compared to the other agencies...
Well-informed sources in Washington, DC, are suggesting that Richard Cordray, head of the CFPB, is interested in moving on before the end of his term, despite the fact that the election results strengthen the hand of the agency he’s running. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the director of the bureau is appointed to a five-year term by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Cordray was nominated by President Obama, but was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He therefore may serve as a recess appointee until...
The CFPB has put out the second iteration of its Supervision and Examination Manual, the guide bureau examiners use in overseeing companies that provide consumer financial products and services. The manual describes how the CFPB supervises and examines these providers and gives its examiners direction on how to determine if companies are complying with consumer financial protection laws. The bureau updated the supervision manual to reflect the renumbering of the consumer financial protection regulations for which the CFPB...
Dodd-Frank Repeal? No. Corrections? Maybe. There will be no repeal of 2010’s landmark Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act as a result of President Barack Obama’s re-election and the Democratic Party’s retention of control of the U.S. Senate, according to a post-election briefing by Wolters Kluwer. “However, a bipartisan Dodd-Frank Act corrections bill is very likely to pass in the 113th Congress that will convene in January 2013,” the firm continued, citing recent remarks by Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA...
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