Townstone Financial seeks to dismiss redlining lawsuit; CFPB settles with debt collectors and auto lenders; the bureau will hold a virtual town hall to discuss managing and protecting finances during difficult times.

The CFPB has brought eight enforcement actions, including six settlements and two lawsuits, in September alone. Four of the settlements resolve charges regarding sending deceptive mailers to veterans.

Issuers of auto ABS will likely continue to complete clean-up calls on seasoned transactions even in a rising interest-rate environment, according to S&P Global Ratings. The rating service said clean-up calls yield a positive impact for auto ABS issuers and investors.

The CFPB, together with four other federal agencies, last week affirmed it will not take enforcement action based on supervisory guidance. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., National Credit Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the CFPB said supervisory guidance does not have the force and effect of law and cannot lead to enforcement actions. “Examiners will not criticize a supervised ...

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.

A House Republican asked the CFPB to stop so- called regulation by enforcement and to clarify the use and role of the guidance it has issued. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-MO, recently sent a letter to six agencies, including the CFPB, expressing concerns that guidance that does not go through notice-and-comment rulemaking has been used as the basis of enforcement actions. “Many of my colleagues and I hear frequently from financial institutions that guidance promulgated ...

The House last week voted to kill the CFPB’s auto lending guidance, but the chances of a similar override of the bureau’s payday rule are fading, attorneys said. In a 234-175 vote, the House repealed Obama-era CFPB guidance on indirect auto lending that subjected auto dealers and others to liability for discriminatory price markups. The Senate passed the Congressional Review Act resolution last month, and President Trump is expected to sign the rollback. Congress used the CRA ...

The Senate voted 51-47 to block guidance issued by the CFPB five years ago that said indirect auto lenders can be subject to liability for discriminatory pricing markups. The Congressional Review Act resolution introduced by Sen. Jerry Moran, R-KS, late last month was passed with the help of one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV. The vote generally went along party lines. The five-page bulletin, titled “Indirect Auto Lending and Compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act ...

Mick Mulvaney Wants to Hide Consumer Complaints from Public View. Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney said last week that he wants to shut down public access to the CFPB’s consumer complaint database. “I don’t see anything in here that says I have to have a Yelp run by the federal government,” he said at an American Bankers Association event. Consumer Groups Say the Wells Fargo $1 Billion Fine a Flawed Settlement. The CFPB recently has fined [Includes two briefs] ...

The CFPB and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are seeking an aggregate of $1 billion from Wells Fargo to settle abuse allegations tied to its auto lending and home mortgage businesses, the megabank disclosed in its first quarter 2018 earnings report late last week. The auto lending violations center on collateral protection insurance policies the bank sold to customers between October 2005 and September 2016. Wells estimated $145 million in cash remediation and $37 million ...