A bipartisan pair of lawmakers from the House of Representatives found fault with the Obama administration this week for not making housing finance and reform of the government-sponsored enterprises a priority. Failing that, they’re not certain there would be enough support from both sides of the aisle to get a comprehensive bill pushed through the pipeline and signed by the president. “I don’t think the White House has sent a positive signal about participating in this process,” said Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-TX, during a housing finance reform discussion in Washington, DC, this week sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center. “It’s such a big lift. You need to make sure that if you’re going down that road, that you have the opportunity to accomplish something.” His colleague, Rep. John Delaney, D-MD, agreed...

In the eyes of some Federal Reserve watchers, Fed chief Janet Yellen has become a master of making every public appearance a bit of a Rorschach test, giving fans and critics alike just enough of what they want to hear to reinforce their pre-existing viewpoints. Her semi-annual Humphrey-Hawkins testimony on Fed monetary policy before Congress this week was another prime example of this, with Wall Street types hopeful of a rise in interest rates sometime later this year, and contrarians increasingly unconvinced and dismissive. For instance, labor markets are showing...

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray tried to sooth industry concerns about regulatory enforcement of the controversial integrated disclosure rule immediately following its implementation on Oct. 3. Appearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Cordray amplified previous statements regarding compliance with the so-called TRID rule, which makes major changes to consumer disclosures under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. “We worked...

The mortgage lending industry widely supports the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposal to extend to Oct. 3, 2015, the effective date of its transformative integrated-disclosure rule under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. But more needs to be done, say those who have commented on the planned delay. The American Bankers Association, for example, said, “Given the unique circumstances posed by the TRID rulemaking, the only way to realistically ensure an orderly transition to the new regulatory framework – and to guarantee uninterrupted service to consumers – is to institute a subsequent supervisory transition period that restrains enforcement and liability during a three-month period following the proposed effective date.” For a variety of reasons, the ABA urged...

The CFPB rang the credit card industry’s bell last week, compelling JPMorgan Chase to refund at least $50 million to consumers and to pay $136 million in penalties and payments to settle an enforcement action related to allegations of selling bad debt and robo-signing documents. The lender also must pay a $30 million penalty to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in a related action. According to CFPB officials and attorneys general from 47 states and the District of Columbia, who collaborated in bringing the action, Chase sold credit card accounts to debt buyers that included amounts that were inaccurate, settled, discharged in bankruptcy, not owed, or otherwise not collectible. Debt buyers then sought to collect the faulty ...

Mortgage lenders told the CFPB they support the bureau’s recent proposal to extend the effective date of its integrated disclosure rule to Oct. 3, but urged the agency to do yet more to help the industry cope. The Mortgage Bankers Association, for example, in its comment letter said the so-called TRID rule –promulgated under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act – when finally implemented “will make the mortgage process considerably more understandable and navigable for consumers, an objective we have long shared.” However, “experience has shown that the TRID rule is far more complicated and wide ranging than any other rule previously issued by the CFPB,” the trade group added. “It is causing significant implementation ...

The mortgage lending industry, fresh off a successful appeal to the CFPB for an extension of the effective date of the pending integrated disclosure rule, has secured the introduction of another piece of legislation in the U.S. Congress that would provide lenders a “hold harmless” enforcement period under the new rule. S. 1711, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Sens. Tim Scott, R-SC, Joe Donnelly, D-IN, and others, would provide for a temporary safe harbor from the enforcement of the rule, from the effective date through Dec. 31, 2015, providing lenders are making good-faith efforts to comply with the rule. The measure is identical to H.R. 2213 introduced in May by Reps. Steve Pearce, R-NM, and Brad Sherman, D-CA. “This bill ...

The CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule under the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act – dubbed TRID – is a “once in a generation transformational event for the industry,” according to Franklin Codel, executive vice president of Wells Fargo Mortgage. Even with the recently extended effective date of Oct. 3, 2015, TRID was still at the forefront of topics at a real estate conference in Miami in late June. The pending rule prompted a discussion by panelists who emphasized the magnitude of the upcoming changes. Codel said he thinks the industry is prepared but said it’s going to require strong cooperation among lenders, real estate professionals, settlement agents and consumers to get this right. “Many of the things that ...

Mortgage industry consultants at Lenders Compliance Group have received some client questions lately having to do with the seven-day waiting period under the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule. “We know about the seven-day waiting period requirement between providing the initial disclosures and consummation,” according to a new TRID-related blog from Lenders Compliance Group that summarizes the concerns. “We need to know what criteria to use in order to determine if the consumer may waive the waiting period based on a personal emergency. And if a consumer can waive the waiting period, how is this done?” Jonathan Foxx, president and managing director at the consultancy, replied that, “For a closed-end credit transaction that is secured by the consumer’s dwelling and subject to ...

The CFPB recently took action against some credit card add-on product vendors – Affinion Group Holdings and its affiliated companies, and Intersections Inc. – accusing the companies of charging consumers for credit card add-on benefits they did not receive. When it comes to Affinion, the CFPB alleges that from about July 2010 through August 2012, the company enrolled consumers in add-on products that claimed to provide consumers with credit monitoring, credit report retrieval, or both. Consumers generally paid between $6.95 and $15.99 per month for these products, which were typically billed directly to their credit cards or deposit accounts. However, the bureau alleges that Affinion or its partner banks billed full product fees to at least 73,000 accounts while failing to provide ...