Global Client Solutions, a leading debt-settlement payment processor based in Tulsa, OK, agreed to pay over $6 million in relief to consumers, as well as a $1 million civil penalty, to resolve allegations by the CFPB that the firm helped other companies to collect tens of millions of dollars in illegal upfront fees from consumers. Final settlement is pending federal district court approval. The CFPB accused Global Client Solutions and its two principals, Robert Merrick and Michael Hendrix, of violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule by making it possible for debt-settlement companies to charge consumers illegal upfront fees. The rule prohibits debt-settlement companies from charging consumers advance fees before settling any of their debts. The rule is intended to protect consumers ...

The American Bankers Association has weighed in once again on the CFPB’s proposed information collection request filed with the Office of Management and Budget to survey consumers about their experience with debt collection – this time asking it be shut down entirely. In its first comment on an earlier iteration of the bureau’s request, the ABA expressed general support for a consumer survey. However, the industry group identified “significant design and methodological concerns” and suggested changes to the survey instrument and its administration that the banking industry believes will improve the integrity and practical utility of the proposed information collection. Unfortunately, in the revised proposal, the CFPB responds “only perfunctorily to stakeholder comments and reflects very little real change to the ...

The debt collection industry still has plenty of work to do in terms of correcting its collection attempts against delinquent borrowers, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside the CFPB. “Incorrect collection attempts” were far and away the leading consumer complaint about the industry submitted to the CFPB, with more than 12,000 such gripes filed, nearly 40 percent of all debt-collection criticisms, the analysis found. (See chart on page 7.) The biggest offender in this regard was Encore Capital Group, with 925 such complaints. MNE Services Inc., on the other hand, had the lowest number of gripes in this area, 19, among the top 50 companies in the ranking. “Communication tactics” ranked second among types of consumer complaints ...

The Consumer Bankers Association took issue with letters CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman Rohit Chopra recently sent to financial institutions that have contractual relationships with colleges and universities, calling for public disclosure of their campus marketing agreements. Chopra’s letter stated the institutions’ failure to be transparent about the terms of these proprietary agreements “may pose potential consumer protection risks.” However, CBA President and CEO Richard Hunt said Chopra did not provide any basis for or evidence to support these provocative claims. “On the contrary, relationships between banks and schools often provide students with great benefits by providing much needed financial literacy, safe and secure debit cards, low or no-fee checking accounts and access to convenient on-campus branches and ATMs; and students ...

Officials from the CFPB jumped into the mortgage compliance weeds during a webinar last week to answer some industry questions about its Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure rule, otherwise known as “TRID,” which takes effect in August of next year. Among the questions bureau staff discussed were a handful related to disclosure and re-disclosure timing. For instance, a number of industry representatives asked whether the seven-day waiting period before consummation that applies to loan estimates also applies to revised disclosures. “No, the seven-day waiting period is a Truth in Lending Act statutory waiting period that applies today to the initial TILA disclosures, and after August of next year, to the loan estimate provided after application ...

CFPB, Other Feds, Issue Guidance on Unfair or Deceptive Credit Practices. In another changing of the regulatory guard, the Federal Reserve is repealing its Regulation AA (unfair or deceptive acts or practices), as per the mandate of the Dodd-Frank Act, reflecting the fact that the CFPB has inherited the Fed’s authority over such practices. At the same time, the Fed joined the CFPB, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the National Credit Union Administration, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in issuing joint interagency guidance on the subject. The guidance notes that while the Federal Trade Commission’s credit practices rule remains in effect, the credit practices rules for banks, savings associations, and federal credit unions are being repealed as ...

Roughly $1 billion in damages will flow through to the FHA and Ginnie Mae from Bank of America’s record $16.65 billion global mortgage-backed securities settlement with the Department of Justice. Although most of the DOJ’s case centered around faulty private-label MBS that BofA and its forbears (namely Countrywide and Merrill Lynch) underwrote during the housing boom, a small piece of the settlement is tied to servicing chores that the bank did for Ginnie Mae. And apparently, BofA didn’t do a very good job of servicing the underlying product. The bank took over as the subservicer on roughly $26.2 billion in mortgage servicing rights that once belonged to Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, a large nonbank based in Ocala, FL. When TBW went bust in the second half of 2009, BofA was given the subservicing contract. “BofA serviced the loans for us,” said Ginnie Mae president Ted Tozer. “And they did a ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is requesting feedback from stakeholders regarding proposed policy drafts covering appraiser eligibility and oversight, and conducting appraisals, among other things. The documents will be part of the FHA’s Single-Family Housing Policy Handbook, a consolidated and authoritative agency handbook that will make it easier for stakeholders to do business with the FHA. The drafts also cover appraiser requirements for performing an FHA appraisal, including property eligibility requirements for Title II forward and reverse mortgages, as well as forms and data delivery requirements. Comments must be submitted by Sept. 2, 2014. The Single-Family Policy handbook is a multi-phased initiative to develop a single, comprehensive source for FHA single-family housing policy using clear and direct language and an improved organization structure. In fall 2013, the FHA posted its first draft section, Application Though Endorsement for Title II Forward Mortgages. The FHA is finalizing ...

In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed adding 40 new data fields for collection under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Industry attorneys advised lenders to look at their current operations through the data fields the CFPB will likely see and make adjustments before the federal regulator completes new in-depth analysis. Warren Traiger, counsel at the law firm of BuckleySandler, said the new HMDA data will be a fair lending “game changer” ...

The notion of a common pass-through MBS issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was formally put in play this week, as the Federal Housing Finance Agency solicited comment on a proposed “single security” for the two government-sponsored enterprises. The Mortgage Bankers Association has been pushing the concept for several years, and it made it onto the FHFA’s formal agenda for the GSEs in 2014. Proponents say it would improve liquidity in the market and level out Freddie’s pricing disadvantage. Under the FHFA proposal, the new common MBS would adopt...