The CFPB, the Federal Trade Commission and 15 state attorneys general, as well as other state agencies, announced a number of legal actions last month against alleged foreclosure relief scammers they accused of using deceptive marketing tactics to rip off distressed homeowners across the country. The CFPB filed three lawsuits against companies and individuals it asserted collected more than $25 million in illegal advance fees for services that falsely promised to prevent foreclosures or renegotiate troubled mortgages. The bureau is seeking compensation for victims, civil fines and injunctions against the companies and individuals it identified. One of the lawsuits was filed against Clausen & Cobb Management Company, Inc., its owners, Alfred Clausen and Joshua Cobb, and their business associate, attorney ...

The CFPB and 25 states filed amicus briefs in a case pending before the Supreme Court of the United States, Jesinoski v. Countrywide Home Loans Inc., that could resolve a circuit split over the recession of a mortgage under the Truth in Lending Act. The Truth in Lending Act provides that a borrower “shall have the right to rescind the transaction until midnight of the third business day following ... the delivery of the information and rescission forms required under this section ... by notifying the creditor ... of his intention to do so.” TILA further creates a time limit for the exercise of this right, providing that the borrower’s “right of rescission shall expire three years after the date ...

The CFPB recently began accepting consumer complaints about prepaid cards (such as gift cards, benefit cards, and general purpose reloadable cards) as well as additional nonbank products, including debt settlement services, credit repair services, and pawn and title loans. Consumers can now submit prepaid card complaints to the bureau about problems managing, opening or closing their account; overdraft issues and incorrect or unexpected fees; and frauds, scams or unauthorized transactions. They can also file gripes about prepaid card advertising, disclosures and marketing practices; as well as issues relating to adding money and savings or rewards features associated with such cards. In the coming months, the bureau plans to issue a proposed rule aimed at increasing federal consumer protections for general ...

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a bit of a surprise move, is pressing the CFPB, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and members of Congress for changes to the Secure and Fair Enforcement of Licensing Act and other regulations that would provide uniform testing standards for all mortgage loan officers. The development is somewhat unexpected in that the trade group is calling for regulators and lawmakers to increase the compliance load for its members. Under the SAFE Act, there are two regimes for loan officers. Loan officers who work for nonbank lenders have to be licensed. That includes testing, pre-licensing and continuing education requirements, as well as extensive criminal and financial background reviews by state regulators. Additionally, they also must ...

Another CFPB Official Heads for the Private Sector. CFPB Enforcement Attorney Manuel Alvarez has been hired away by Affirm, a young financial services company based in San Francisco, to be its first chief compliance officer and general counsel. In his new role at Affirm, Alvarez will oversee and manage the company’s regulatory compliance program and related actives to prevent illegal, unfair or deceptive conduct. He will also take charge of the firm’s working relationships with regulators and Affirm’s service providers. “Consumers often don’t understand the fees or interest they pay on a revolving account. That has to change,” said Alvarez. “Affirm’s commitment to delivering honest and transparent financial products totally aligns with my long-standing commitment to consumer protection.” Alvarez was ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently proposed a significant expansion of the loan features lenders would need to report under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The CFPB said the new data will help gauge whether regulations meant to limit originations of “risky mortgage products” have been effective. The federal regulator is seeking new disclosures regarding credit scores, debt-to-income ratios, qualified mortgage status and loan type, among many ...

The risk-retention standard federal regulators are leaning toward establishing isn’t what was intended under the Dodd-Frank Act, according to one of the main authors of the DFA. Barney Frank, a former Democrat congressman from Massachusetts, said aligning the definition for qualified mortgages with the definition for qualified residential mortgages would be a “grave error.” The DFA required federal regulators to establish standards for QRMs ...

The FHA’s widespread reduction in loan limits for 2014 has had a mixed impact on production levels so far this year, according to a new Inside FHA Lending analysis of FHA endorsement data. Through the first four months of 2014, FHA endorsements were down 55.6 percent from the same period last year. But in counties where loan limits were lowered, FHA production was down 57.5 percent from early 2013. In the relatively few counties where loan limits actually increased in 2014, FHA endorsements were also down from a year ago, but by a less severe 47.4 percent. The biggest decline in endorsements has been in refinances, especially FHA-to-FHA refinances. In areas with lowered loan limits, production of these loans has plummeted 87.0 percent, and even areas with raised loan limits saw an 81.1 percent drop in streamlined refis. Purchase-mortgage originations have taken less of a ...

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have both paid major settlements regarding FHA lending, and both have curtailed their participation in the program, according to a new analysis of Ginnie Mae data by Inside FHA Lending. During the first six months of 2013, Chase accounted for 11.8 percent of the FHA mortgages in newly issued Ginnie mortgage-backed securities. During the first half of 2014, its volume of FHA loans in Ginnie pools was down 75.8 percent from the same period last year, and its share of the market sank more than half, to just 5.1 percent. Jamie Dimon, Chase’s president and CEO, recently questioned why the bank should stay in the FHA business when legal costs are so high. The Ginnie data show it ... [1 chart]

Mortgage lenders face a heftier Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting load under a proposed rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would implement a number of changes mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act – and then some. The bureau views implementation of the Dodd-Frank changes as an opportunity to improve the data collected under HMDA, ease some reporting burden and modernize how the data are collected and reported, the agency said. The CFPB proposed...