The CFPB temporarily put on hold a requirement that certain credit card issuers send their agreements to the bureau every quarter in order to facilitate posting on the agency’s own website. The final rule issued by the bureau last week suspends for one year credit card issuers’ obligations to submit their credit card agreements to the CFPB. Under the rule, credit card issuers will not be required to submit agreements that would otherwise have been due to the bureau by the first business day on or after April 30, July 31 and October 31 of 2015, and January 31, 2016. “During this time, the bureau will work to develop a more streamlined and automated electronic submission system,” the agency said. ...

The CFPB and the Navajo Nation took joint action last week against companies and individuals who allegedly operated an illegal tax-refund scheme. The alleged scam was based on tax-preparation franchises steering low-income consumers, including many citizens of the Navajo Nation, toward high-cost tax-refund-anticipation loans, the bureau said. The complaint identified Jeffrey Scott Thomas, who through his company, J Thomas Development of NM, Inc., owned four H&R Block tax-preparation franchises in New Mexico. The bureau and the Navajo Nation did not find that H&R Block participated in this scheme, the CFPB said, and H&R Block terminated its relationship with those franchises, which then closed in September 2014. “Before they closed, the tax franchises catered largely to low-income citizens of the Navajo ...

CFPB Community Bank Advisory Council Meeting April 22. CFPB Director Richard Cordray plans to discuss credit scores and credit reporting and the related implications for community banks when the bureau convenes the next meeting of its Community Bank Advisory Council on April 22, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., in Washington, DC. The event is scheduled to be held at the bureau’s location at 1275 First Street, N.E., and is open to the public, but an RSVP is required to attend. CFPB to Hold Research Conference May 7-8. The CFPB plans to host its first research conference May 7-8, 2015. The conference will focus on high-quality consumer finance research, with academic and government researchers presenting their research papers. “The goal ...

In an effort to convince large investors to buy AAA tranches of non-agency MBS, the benchmark transaction under development with help from the Treasury Department will include a deal agent or transaction manager. “Part of the centerpiece [of the non-agency MBS benchmark transaction] is around the role of a new player in these transactions, an independent deal agent that represents the interests of the investors,” said Michael Stegman, counselor to the Treasury ...

The Community Home Lenders Association wants a portion of the quarterly profits that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac give to the Treasury Department put in a reserve account to help smaller mortgage lenders, according to a recent letter the trade group wrote to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. The group contends that the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement funds should be set aside in a reserve account to capitalize a cash window for smaller mortgage lenders that would ...

Use of a deal agent in new non-agency mortgage-backed securities will help convince large investors to return to the market, according to industry participants. The benchmark non-agency MBS in the works with help from the Treasury Department will include a deal agent, according to Michael Stegman, counselor to the Treasury on housing finance policy. At a talk this week hosted by the Financial Services Roundtable and CoreLogic, Stegman noted that Treasury continues to ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule was an “over correction” in terms of income documentation standards, according to Peter Carroll, executive vice president for mortgage policy and counterparty relations at Quicken Loans. At a talk this week hosted by the Financial Services Roundtable and CoreLogic, Carroll said the ATR rule has limited Quicken’s originations of mortgages for borrowers who have significant income that’s accounted for outside of ...

New Day USA, a major VA lender, agreed to a multi-million dollar settlement this week with state regulators and removed its chief operating officer due to widespread violations involving the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act. The lender will pay a $5.28 million administrative penalty as part of a consent order and settlement with regulators from 42 states and Washington, DC. New Day also removed COO Paul Alger. In order to meet continuing education requirements ...

The House of Representatives early this week passed H.R. 685, the “Mortgage Choice Act,” bipartisan legislation which would clarify that certain affiliated title costs do not count against the “qualified mortgage” cap on points and fees under the ability-to-repay rule. H.R. 685, introduced by Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-MI, with 37 co-sponsors from both parties, excludes from the definition of points and fees all title charges, regardless of whether they are charged by ...

Small nonbank mortgage lender groups and other industry representatives once again took the opportunity provided by sympathetic Republicans in Congress to express their anxiety about being able to comply with the pending integrated disclosure rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau when it kicks in Aug. 1, 2015. They echoed a call made late last month by Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-MO, and Randy Neugebauer, R-TX, for the CFPB to institute a ...