The CFPB doesn’t have enough power as currently authorized under the Dodd-Frank Act and should be given oversight over auto dealers, according to the “mother” of the bureau, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA. “The consumer agency’s early results have been good for consumers and good for the economy as a whole, but there’s more to be done,” Warren said in a speech last week. “Right now, the auto loan market looks increasingly like the pre-crisis housing market, with good actors and bad actors mixed together.” As the senator sees it, the market is now “thick with loose underwriting standards, predatory and discriminatory lending practices,” and increasing repossessions. She then cited one study that estimated that these kinds of auto dealer markups ...

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 GSEs aren’t completely committed to adopting new credit scoring models just yet, but it is on their radar. When asked about the possibility of alternative credit scoring, spokesmen for both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pointed to the 2015 Conservatorship Scorecard which stated that they will be assessing the feasibility of alternate credit score models and credit history in loan-decision models. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, who spoke at a credit access symposium in Washington last week, said that the FHA is exploring new ways to determine the creditworthiness of consumers to increase access to mortgage lending. Housing industry leaders in attendance said Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other mortgage lenders could increase access....

The CFPB recently revealed details about proposals it is considering to stop what it characterized as payday “debt traps,” targeting payday loans, deposit advance products, vehicle title loans, and certain high-cost installment and open-end products – a scope of rulemaking so comprehensive it threatens to push a number of lenders out of the small-dollar lending market entirely. “[T]he contemplated rules are sweeping. We believe that, if they are adopted, the rules will lead to many lenders exiting the business of making covered loans and radically contract consumer access to covered loans,” Jeremy Rosenblum, a partner in the Philadelphia office of the Ballard Spahr law firm, said in a recent client note. The proposals under consideration cover both short-term and longer-term credit ...

Many financially struggling consumers echoed the American Bankers Association in arguing that the CFPB’s proposed rules on prepaid products could hurt the so-called underbanked and those who sometimes have more month than they do money. “The CFPB’s proposed rules for prepaid products include some onerous provisions that could create insurmountable compliance barriers for banks offering the cards,” the ABA said in a comment letter. “This would be particularly harmful for ‘underbanked’ individuals, many of whom rely on prepaid accounts as an alternative to traditional deposit products.” One barrier is the CFPB’s proposed treatment of overdrafts, which “effectively prohibits linking prepaid cards to overdraft services ... and prohibits imposing any fee when an account is in overdraft status,” the trade group ...

In response to the CFPB’s draft “scorecard” for safe financial products to be offered on college campuses, two lender trade groups said that colleges should be able to work with banks to offer a flexible array of deposit products to their students and not be pigeon-holed into just one approach. In a joint comment letter to the CFPB, the American Bankers Association and the Consumer Bankers Association said they strongly support transparency and strong protections for consumers when using any financial service and will continue to work with the bureau to achieve that goal. “However, the proposed scorecard appears singularly focused on driving colleges and universities into limiting insured depository institutions to offering a particular type of deposit program with ...

Consumer complaints to the CFPB fell in most financial service product segments during the first quarter, not only from the previous quarter but also from one year ago, according to the latest analysis of bureau data by Inside the CFPB. Total gripes in the first quarter of 2015 declined 8.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014, and slid 17.0 percent compared to the first quarter of 2014. Once again, consumer criticisms about residential mortgages led the decline in both timeframes, dropping 20.3 percent quarter over quarter and plunging 33.5 percent year over year. The fall-off is likely due to the shrinkage in overall mortgage originations as well as the continued recovery in the overall housing and mortgage markets.The [with exclusive data chart] ...

CFPB Deputy Director Steven Antonakes revealed recently that the bureau is increasingly concerned about the subprime auto finance sector and will crack down on any practices that prove to be too risky for consumers. Speaking at an event of the Consumer Bankers Association, Antonakes identified a loosening of credit in the subprime auto loan market as one of the emerging risks the bureau is paying close attention to. “From our standpoint, it is not inherently troubling that more consumers are getting auto loans; under the right conditions, increased access to credit is good for the economy and individual upward mobility,” the deputy director said. “However, we have noticed some trends in connection with this credit expansion that give us cause ...

The CFPB brought an enforcement action against National Corrective Group, a nationwide debt collection operation based in San Clemente, CA, and CEO Mats Jonsson, accusing them of using deceptive threats of criminal prosecution and jail time in order to intimidate consumers into paying debts for bounced checks. The bureau also accused the company of misleading consumers into believing they have to sign up for a costly financial education program to avoid criminal charges. The CFPB complaint also alleges that National Corrective Group created a false impression for consumers that its communications were from a state or district attorney’s office. “The company sent letters on prosecutors’ letterheads that appeared to be signed by the state or district attorney,” the bureau said...

Concerns about how borrowers will be impacted by a change in servicers go beyond mortgages in non-agency MBS. Analysts at Moody’s Investors Service warn that the decentralized servicing models used for consumer loan ABS issued by Springleaf Holdings and OneMain Financial face significant risks in the event that servicing needs to be transferred. Both Springleaf and OneMain originate consumer loans at local branches, where they conduct certain servicing operations and collections. The decentralized model can help boost originations and loan performance, though there are risks for investors in consumer ABS with decentralized servicing. “As long as the originator maintains the customer relationship and local presence, this ‘high-touch’ model can help...