After rounds of exchanging increasingly nasty letters, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, finally got a face-to-face opportunity to question Mick Mulvaney, the acting director of her brainchild – the CFPB. In Mulvaney’s testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee last week, Warren turned her five-minute questioning time into a passionate speech generally claiming that Mulvaney is hurting the American people “Here’s what you don’t get, Mr. Mulvaney – this isn’t about me,” Warren said ...

The CFPB and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are seeking an aggregate of $1 billion from Wells Fargo to settle abuse allegations tied to its auto lending and home mortgage businesses, the megabank disclosed in its first quarter 2018 earnings report late last week. The auto lending violations center on collateral protection insurance policies the bank sold to customers between October 2005 and September 2016. Wells estimated $145 million in cash remediation and $37 million ...

Two payday-lending trade groups filed a lawsuit against the CFPB, seeking to invalidate the bureau’s payday lending rule and challenge its constitutionality. The Community Financial Services Association of America and the Consumer Service Alliance of Texas alleged that the agency’s payday lending rule, titled “Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans,” violates the Administrative Procedure Act. The two groups said the final rule was based on “unfounded” presumptions of consumer harm ...

Trade Groups Wrote to Support a CFPB Commission. Twenty-three trade organizations representing the financial services industry, including the American Bankers Association and Mortgage Bankers Association, last week wrote to Congress to support legislation that would change the CFPB’s leadership structure from a single director to a bipartisan commission. The letter was sent to Reps. Dennis Ross, R-FL, Kyrsten Sinema, D-AZ, David Scott, D-GA, and Ann Wagner [Includes four briefs] ...

Lenders would be more willing to offer non-qualified mortgages if federal regulators established a “regulatory sandbox,” according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. David Stevens, president and CEO of the MBA, made the suggestion in a letter to the Treasury Department last week. He described the concept as a space where businesses can test innovative products and processes without risk of regulatory consequences from noncompliance. Stevens said a sandbox would be ...

Congressional lawmakers are seeking ways to ease restrictions on payday loans and rescue the industry from what some lenders feel are onerous CFPB rules promulgated under past agency leadership. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution to repeal the agency’s payday rule, and the House Financial Services Committee gave a green light to bank payday lending. The CFPB finalized its payday rule in October under former Director Richard Cordray with ...

After losing ground in a Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act interpretation in the PHH case, the CFPB lost the motion for reconsideration in another RESPA case, which carries further implications for the industry, attorneys said. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky denied the CFPB’s motion to reconsider a decision in favor of Kentucky law firm Borders & Borders over allegations it illegally paid kickbacks under the RESPA statute. The significance of the case lies in the fact ...

The CFPB released its seventh annual debt collection report, signaling further coordination with the Federal Trade Commission to take an active approach in combating illegal practices by industry players. The CFPB shares enforcement responsibilities with the FTC under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Acting Director Mick Mulvaney has said that roughly one-third of the consumer complaints received last year were tied to debt collection, which suggests where priorities should be set ...

Equifax, which is under investigation by the CFPB – and other government agencies – for a massive data breach that came to light last year, this week named investment banker Mark Begor to be its new CEO effective April 16. He will replace interim CEO Paulino do Rego Barros, who will step down but assist Begor as part of the transition. Back in the fall of last year, Barros was named interim CEO following the departure of several top executives at the credit rating agency after it was revealed a major ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the second half of last year saw a rapid growth of loans with high debt-to-income ratios, thanks in part to the so-called GSE patch. The government-sponsored enterprises enjoy a special exemption under the qualified mortgage rule of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. To achieve QM status, a loan must have a DTI ratio of 43 percent or less, but if a mortgage is sold to Fannie or Freddie, DTI ratios can be higher. In the second half of 2017, loans with DTI ratios ...