The CFPB has issued its long-awaited payday lending proposed rule, in essence a highly restrictive ability-to-repay rule for small-dollar lending. Under the proposed full-payment test, lenders would be required to determine whether the borrower can afford the full amount of each payment when it’s due and still meet basic living expenses and major financial obligations.

Commercial banks and thrifts reported a further decline in their holdings of non-mortgage ABS during the first quarter, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of call-report data. As of the end of March, banks held a combined $131.96 billion of ABS in their portfolio, including assets intended to be held to maturity as well as those available for sale. That represented a 2.3 percent drop from the end of 2015, and a hefty 15.9 percent decline from a year ago. It was...[Includes two data tables]

More Gripes About TRID Dribble In. After what seemed like a lull in hearing complaints from lenders regarding the integrated disclosure rule known as TRID, the gripes are picking up again. At least that’s what we detected from some originators a few days ago. One loan broker who works the southern California market said she’s been telling some clients that it will take an extra seven days to close. “It was 15 before wholesale caught up, but now they’re behind again due to heavy sales volume.” Broker Slams Bureau’s Complaint Database. While he was running for a House seat in West Virginia, mortgage trade group president Marc Savitt was mostly quiet on issues tied to the CFPB. But now that ...

Earlier this month, the CFPB finally issued its long-awaited proposed rule to drastically scale back the ability of consumer financial companies to use pre-dispute arbitration clauses in their contracts for consumer financial products and services. The proposed rule would impose two sets of limitations on the use of pre-dispute arbitration agreements by covered providers of consumer financial products and services. First, it would prohibit providers from using such an agreement to block consumer class actions in court and would require providers to insert language into their arbitration agreements reflecting this limitation. “This proposal is based on the bureau’s preliminary findings – which are consistent with [its earlier] study – that pre-dispute arbitration agreements are being widely used to prevent consumers from seeking ...

Overall consumer complaints to the CFPB reached their lowest level in at least a year and a half, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside the CFPB. Total gripes to the bureau slid 5.0 percent in the first quarter and were off 3.0 percent on an annual basis, data from the CFPB consumer complaint database show. Kvetching about residential mortgages was down slightly more, falling 6.7 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, for those two time periods. In fact, mortgage-related belly-aching hasn’t been this low since the fourth quarter of 2013. The most dramatic change was seen in the prepaid card space, where criticisms plunged 73.3 percent in 1Q16. ... [with exclusive data chart] ...

Consumer complaints to the CFPB fell by double digits in nearly every category during the fourth quarter of 2015, with total complaints down 20.1 percent for the period, despite the one area that showed an increase – prepaid cards – skyrocketing 242.1 percent, according to the latest analysis by Inside the CFPB. However, the lending industry’s performance vis-à-vis consumers generally deteriorated in most categories on an annual basis, the latest data from the CFPB consumer complaint database show.Leading the improved performance during 4Q15 was the student loan sector, which saw gripes drop by a huge 31.7 percent, followed by declines in the debt collection space (off 27.5 percent), and in the home mortgages and credit report categories, both of which saw ...

Industry analysts are generally optimistic that most of the large consumer ABS sectors will probably see a stable, positive year in 2016. However, they’re not very gung-ho about what kind of a year the government-backed student loan space is going to have. Analysts at Wells Fargo Securities think that consumer ABS should offer good relative value next year, based on solid credit fundamentals and robust structural protections. “We expect spreads to tighten in 2016 as the primary market recovers and the yield curve flattens along with Federal Reserve tightening,” they said in a recent outlook. “Spreads are likely to stay volatile and event-driven.” Further, “Weak demand and poor liquidity have been...

The CFPB indicated in its recently released 2015 rulemaking agenda that it is continuing to finalize a proposal it published in December 2014 to amend certain aspects of the bureau’s 2013 mortgage servicing rules. The proposal addressed, among other things, enhanced loss mitigation requirements and compliance with certain rules when the borrower is a potential or confirmed successor in interest or is in bankruptcy. “We have been conducting testing of periodic statements for consumers in bankruptcy and are working to develop the final rule for issuance in mid-2016,” the CFPB said. The bureau also will continue working to support implementation of the multiple mortgage rules required by the Dodd-Frank Act, such as the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act rule, the integrated ...

Issuance of non-mortgage ABS fell 31.7 percent from the second quarter of 2015 to the third quarter, with significant declines in most major sectors, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. A total of $37.00 billion of ABS were issued in the third quarter, well off the pace set in the first half of the year. On a year-to-date basis, new ABS production was down 4.5 percent from the first nine months of 2014. That puts in jeopardy the string of four consecutive annual increases in ABS issuance since 2010 as the market enters the final lap of the year. Vehicle finance deals remained...[Includes two data tables]

Consumer Complaints Tick Slightly Upward From Year-Ago Levels. A small 3.9 percent drop in overall consumer complaints to the CFPB during the third quarter helped keep a lid on rising complaints at the nine-month mark versus a year ago, according to an analysis by Inside the CFPB. (See chart on previous page.) The data show a modest 4.3 percent uptick in consumer criticisms at the end of September 2015 compared with the same nine-month period in 2014. The biggest drops were seen in the payday lending space (down 18.7 percent quarter to quarter and 7.1 percent year over year) and in the residential mortgage space (down 10.9 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively)....