The CFPB issued a formal notice and request for information on how the credit card market is functioning and the effect credit card protections are having on both issuers and consumers. As per the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act, the CFPB is required to conduct a review of the consumer credit market every two years. Among its focal points, the bureau wants to know how the terms and conditions of credit card agreements have changed since it conducted its review of the credit card market two years ago. “The bureau is looking to see how card issuers may have changed their pricing, marketing, underwriting, or other practices and whether those changes have benefited or harmed consumers,” the ...

CFPB Updates TRID Documentation. Last week, the CFPB put out some updates to the implementation materials for its integrated disclosure rule under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. The updated material lines up with the rule that was published Feb. 19, 2015, that modifies the 2013 TILA/RESPA integrated disclosure rule (TRID). This rule extends the timing requirement for revised disclosures when consumers lock a rate or extend a rate lock after the Loan Estimate is provided and permits certain language related to construction loans for transactions involving new construction on the LE. Additionally, the bureau is making non-substantive corrections, including citation and cross-reference updates and wording changes for clarification purposes, to various provisions of ...

More than a dozen industry organizations asked the CFPB last week to implement a “restrained enforcement and liability” or “grace period” through the end of 2015 for those seeking to comply in good faith with its integrated disclosure rule after its August 1, 2015, effective date. “There are ... situations – such as what will occur if a closing cannot go forward on schedule because of occurrences outside the control of the parties – that are not addressed by the regulation which still require additional guidance,” the collection of 16 trade groups said in a joint letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “We would like to use this grace period to identify pain points with stakeholders and then meet with bureau staff ...

The changes the CFPB wants to make to its 2013 mortgage servicing rules under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act got a mixed reception from the mortgage industry. The proposed rule was issued in mid-December, and the public comment period closed last week. The proposed amendments cover nine primary topics: successors in interest, definition of delinquency, requests for information, force-placed insurance, early intervention, loss mitigation, prompt payment crediting, periodic statements, and small servicer issues. The Independent Community Bankers of America was pleased with the bureau’s proposed amendment to the small servicer definition that will permit a small servicer to service, for a fee, mortgage loans that are seller-financed transactions subject to certain limitations. ...

Credit unions support a CFPB proposal that would let them off the hook for one year when it comes to submitting their credit card agreements to the bureau while the agency works to develop a more streamlined and automated electronic submission system. Other requirements, including card issuers’ obligations to post currently-offered agreements on their own Web sites, would remain unaffected by the proposed rule, which was issued in February. Currently, card issuers are required to send agreements to the bureau manually through e-mail. The CFPB intends to come up with a new system through which card issuers would be able to upload agreements directly to the bureau’s database and eliminate the process of e-mail submissions. Among the supporters was the ...

Loan Modification Trial Payment Plans for Forward Mortgages. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced requirements for trial plan duration, required signatures, and reporting for trial payment-plan agreements, and the conditions under which FHA deems a TPP to have failed.Lenders must implement the requirements in Mortgagee Letter 2015-07 for all TPPs offered to borrowers on or after June 1, 2015. FHA Publishes Additional Sections of HUD Single-Family Policy Handbook. The FHA has published additional sections for the SF Handbook, including the following: Doing Business with FHA – Lenders and Mortgagees Doing Business with FHA – Other participants in FHA Transactions – Appraisers; Quality Control, Oversight and Compliance – Lenders and Mortgagees; Quality Control Oversight, and Compliance – Other Participants in FHA Transactions – Appraisers ...

While Wall Street professionals spent the run-up to this week’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee wondering whether the Fed would lose its “patience” regarding a future increase in interest rates, the FOMC continued its present course on MBS investment. “The committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency MBS in agency MBS and of rolling over maturing ...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Housing Service has proposed to revise regulations for the single-family housing guaranteed loan program pertaining to qualified-mortgage (QM) requirements, refinancing, principal reduction and lender indemnification. The deadline for comments is May 4, 2015.The RHS is proposing to amend its regulations to indicate that a loan with an RHS guarantee is a qualified mortgage if it meets certain requirements set by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB published a QM rule, which became effective on Jan. 10, 2014. Among other things, the rule requires creditors to make a reasonable, good faith determination of a borrower’s ability to repay the mortgage loan. In addition, the rule establishes a safe harbor from liability for transactions that meet the QM requirements or, in certain cases, a rebuttable presumption of ...

More than a year after standards for qualified mortgages took effect, a number of lenders are willing to offer non-QMs, but production has been concentrated on affluent borrowers. Lenders seem less willing to offer non-QMs to borrowers with lower credit scores or higher loan-to-value ratios. For the past year, Nationstar Mortgage has been working toward offering a non-QM refinance product. The loan would target non-agency borrowers in the nonbank’s large servicing ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposal to significantly expand the regulatory requirements related to successors in interest poses legal risks, threatens personal privacy and could foster instances of fraud, mortgage industry officials said. The provisions related to successors in interest are part of a package of proposed amendments to the bureau’s 2013 mortgage rules under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act ...