CFPB Announces HMDA File Format Verification Tool and New 2017 Dataset. The CFPB earlier this month released the 2018 File Format Verification Tool (FFVT) which tests whether HMDA reporters’ files meet certain formatting requirements needed to submit data to the HMDA platform. Specifically, the FFVT will test whether the file is pipe-delimited, has the proper number of data fields, and has data fields formatting as integers, where necessary ... [Includes three briefs]

All 49 Democratic senators last week signed a letter to Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney, urging him to continue protecting servicemembers and their families under the Military Lending Act. The letter follows reports that Mulvaney plans to suspend examining lenders for MLA compliance. The senators called on Mulvaney not to halt military lending checks or take steps that would potentially harm servicemembers and their families. “The CFPB should not be abandoning ...

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors recently announced that all states and U.S. territories now use a single, common exam to assess mortgage loan originators. In the past, a mortgage license candidate would need to take the national exam and a separate test for each state license. Now, MLOs only need take a national test – the National SAFE MLO Test with Uniform State Content – to hold a license. State regulators started to test a uniform national exam five years ago ...

The CFPB recently joined with a group of foreign regulators to cooperate on the regulation of fintech, with the aim to facilitate responsible cross-border experimentation of new ideas. The group proposed to create the Global Financial Innovation Network to help new technology grow in a more relaxed regulatory environment worldwide. “The network will seek to provide a more efficient way for innovative firms to interact with regulators, helping them navigate ...

A federal court in Texas recently refused for the second time to delay the compliance date of the CFPB’s payday lending rule, which generally leaves the agency only one option to delay the date: through notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures. “There is a significant likelihood that the bureau might extend the compliance deadline” through rulemaking, said Quyen Truong, a partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. Two payday lending trade groups earlier this year ...

The CFPB recently imposed a $69 million judgement against two individuals and a group of payday lending entities controlled by them for cash-grab scams, although most of it will be waived. This is the seventh enforcement action brought by the CFPB so far this year, and also the third involving payday lenders. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri Western Division recently entered an order effectuating a settlement between the CFPB ...

There are fewer structural protections in today’s speculative-grade securities backed by subprime auto loans compared to below-investment grade issuances in the 1990s, according to an S&P Global analysis of the subprime auto loan ABS sector.

The CFPB has been accelerating its enforcement actions in the past two months, and attorneys said Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney is now defending the bureau’s enforcement power, with a new strategy and focus. “The enforcement actions are being announced more frequently now,” said Allen Denson, partner at Hudson Cook. “I expect the steady clip of settlements we’ve seen over the last two months to continue.” After Mulvaney took the reins at the ...

Kathy Kraninger, President Trump’s nominee to be the next CFPB director, last week responded to questions sent by Democrat members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The questions followed on the heels of a confirmation hearing earlier in July where Democrats accused the nominee of stonewalling. The Democratic lawmakers sent three lists of questions, over 10 pages, covering issues ranging from the nominee’s day-to-day job ...

The U.S. Treasury Department in a recent report urged the CFPB to rescind its payday lending rule because the states already have regulatory structures in place for the industry. “Treasury recognizes and supports the broad authority of states that have established comprehensive product restrictions and licensing requirements on nonbank short-term, small-dollar installment lenders and their products,” said the agency’s long-awaited report on fintech that was ...