The Community Mortgage Lenders of America has asked the CFPB to exempt smaller independent mortgage bankers from examinations or audits. The CFPB currently has active examinations for IMBs.

Democrats captured a majority of state attorney general seats in elections earlier this month, which will likely increase state-level litigation and multistate enforcement activity, said attorneys.

The results of the 2018 midterm elections are sure to have implications for the CFPB. The questions are what and to what extent. One thing is almost for sure: the CFPB will have a new director – Kathy Kraninger – next year, because Senate Republicans netted three more seats, a comfortable 54-46 margin. “We will see a new leader at the CFPB in the next year and it will be interesting to see the interaction of that CFPB leadership with Congress ...

Former CFPB Director Loses in the Ohio Governor’s Race. Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray lost in the Ohio governor’s race last week. Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine led a GOP sweep of statewide nonjudicial offices. In his campaign, Cordray boasted of his record reining in Wall Street during his tenure at the CFPB. He worked as the CFPB director from its inception until 2017, when he quit to run for governor of the Buckeye State [Includes four briefs] ...

The CFPB will focus its rulemaking efforts on implementing directives from the Dodd-Frank reform act over the next 12 months, according to the agency’s latest rulemaking agenda.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has asked the Office of Management and Budget to review a draft final rule that would establish major requirements for guaranteed cash-out refinance loans. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which reformed the Dodd-Frank Act, gave VA the authority to regulate cash-out refis. The agency has 180 days from enactment to promulgate regulations. The final rule sets the parameters of VA cash-out home loans, to include defining net tangible benefit, recoupment and seasoning requirements. The Dodd-Frank reform act and Ginnie Mae have established similar requirements for Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans. IRRRLs and, to a much lesser extent, cash-out refis came under scrutiny due to loan churning or serial refinancing. Last year, a small group of lenders targeted servicemembers and veterans with VA loans to ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs will begin a new rulemaking on qualified mortgages to conform to Dodd-Frank reform act mandates. Observers say the move is simply housekeeping, since the previous QM interim final rule (IFR) requirements were rendered moot with the enactment of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act back in May. The new law, also known as the Dodd-Frank reform act, superseded the previous rule’s seasoning and recoupment requirements for VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans. Specifically, the act removed the category of rebuttable presumption for IRRRLs deemed as QM under the interim final rule. It also imposed new requirements that were not considered at the time the IFR was issued. The VA did not say whether changes were made ...

The CFPB recently settled with Bluestem, Eden Prairie, MN, over allegations that the group of firms unfairly delayed payment transfers to third-party debt buyers. The settlement will require the companies to pay a civil money penalty of $200,000. The CFPB alleged that the Bluestem companies, between 2013 and 2016, delayed forwarding payments for more than 31 days in 18,000 instances. In 3,500 of those instances, Bluestem allegedly delayed [Includes four briefs] ...

FHA Issues Waiver of Property Inspections in Disaster-Stricken California Counties. FHA has issued a waiver of its timing policy for completing property inspections prior to closing or endorsing a loan for FHA insurance. The waiver is in effect in presidentially declared major disaster areas in Lake and Shasta Counties, CA, that were ravaged by wildfires and high winds. FHA believes that the wildfires and high winds have stabilized so as not to cause any further damage to properties, even though FEMA has not declared “all clear” in the affected areas. The waiver allows damage inspections to be completed after Oct. 2, for properties located in the PDMDA. NC Commissioner of Banks Amends State Reverse Mortgage Rules. The North Carolina Commissioner of Banks recently amended its ...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, has raised ethical questions about Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney’s recent appearance at a “closed-door event” where he reportedly discussed midterm elections with Republican officials and donors. Warren, a harsh Mulvaney critic, said his attendance at the event in New York City on Sept. 8 may have violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits certain employees in the executive branch of the federal government from engaging ...