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 ...

Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney has reportedly dropped another payday lending case, giving new ammunition to his critics. According to a Reuters report, five people with direct knowledge of the matter said the CFPB under the leadership of Mulvaney decided not to go after National Credit Adjusters and is pondering whether to end cases against three other payday lenders. The agency declined to comment on the Reuters report. Mulvaney said in February the bureau won’t spend a lot of energy ...

CFPB Upgrades Mortgage Servicing Small Entity Compliance Guide. The CFPB has released version 3.1 of its mortgage servicing Small Entity Compliance Guide. The SECG provides a summary of the agency’s 2016 final mortgage servicing rule, which goes into effect April 19. The revised guide incorporates an amendment to the rule released earlier this month, which replaces the previous single-billing-cycle exemption with a single-statement exemption for mortgage servicers ... [Includes three briefs]

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, continues to be a pain to CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney. She sent another letter to Mulvaney last week, demanding answers about his leadership of the bureau. Since Mulvaney took over the agency in November 2017, Warren and her colleagues have sent him nine letters including 125 questions and requests. In the most recent letter, Warren accused the acting director of failing to answer or inadequately answering 105 of those questions ...

Removing civil public records has little effect on consumers’ credit scores, the CFPB found in the latest quarterly consumer credit trends report issued last week. The National Consumer Assistance Plan required the three nationwide credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – to create minimum standards for personal information and reporting frequency for civil public records, including bankruptcies, civil judgement, and tax liens. The new standards were a product between the credit ...

The fight between Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, and the CFPB’s Acting Director Mick Mulvaney regarding the payday lending rule is escalating. In a two-paragraph response released last week, Mulvaney rejected the accusation that his decision to retreat from payday lending was connected to the campaign contributions that payday lenders gave. “I rejected your insinuation – repeated three times in as many pages – that my actions as acting director are based on considerations other than than a careful examination ...

The CFPB is continuing its investigation into what went wrong at Equifax regarding the massive data breach the credit bureau suffered last year, according to a new 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last fall, Equifax said hackers stole personal data it had collected on some 143 million U.S. consumers. In the new filing, the company updated that estimate to almost 146 million Americans. The CFPB, of course, is not the only government body looking into the hack ... [Includes two briefs]

FHA is offering new options to victims of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria as well as California wildfires and subsequent flooding and mudslides to avoid foreclosures. Eligible disaster victims in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, California, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands may get FHA foreclosure relief, which would allow them to remain in their homes and, at the same time, reduce losses to the mortgage insurance fund. FHA has instructed servicers to reach out to the victims with the new option, “Disaster Standalone Partial Claim.” The new option allows an interest-free second loan to cover up to 12 months of missed mortgage payments. The loan is payable only when the borrower sells the home or refinances the mortgage. The expanded loss mitigation will also streamline income documentation and other requirements to expedite relief to struggling homeowners while they are ...

At $600K a Year, Fannie Mae CEO Tim Mayopoulos is Underpaid. Although Fannie Mae reported pre-tax income of $18.4 billion in 2017, its CEO Timothy Mayopoulos took home, once again, a base salary of roughly $600,000, the limit for both GSE CEOs and a figure that seems exceedingly low when compared to financial services firms of similar size. A new 10-K filing from the company notes: “Our chief executive officer’s compensation in 2017 was more than 90 percent below the market median for comparable firms. Our inability to offer market-based compensation hinders our succession planning for our chief executive officer role, and potentially our ability to hire...

The Department of Veterans Affairs will require lenders to provide early disclosures to veterans seeking to refinance into a VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan. The new policy aims to ensure that the VA streamline refi loan they sought would actually lower their monthly mortgage payments and is not just a scam for lenders to charge higher fees. Loan churning, or serial refinancing, is at the root of the VA policy change. Churning refers to multiple refinancing of an unseasoned mortgage loan within a very short time, often within six months of origination. Serial refinancing may add more payments and interest to the new loan, prolonging debt repayment, and can strip equity. It also potentially raises the risk of default by the borrower. In addition, the risk of prepayment could affect pricing of Ginnie Mae securities, which could cause lenders to charge higher rates on VA loans to make up for the ...